


We're New Romantics

by Keefa



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Bad Relationship with Parents, Canon typical humour, F/M, Fake Dating, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, High School AU, I guess?? maybe??, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Modern AU, Multi, Paintball, Referenced Asexual Character, Sex Jokes, Slight Violence, Slow Burn, Underage Drinking, critical parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-04-19 11:58:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4745507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keefa/pseuds/Keefa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Tucker’s parents are sick of him sleeping around, and Wash’s parents are tired of him being so lonely (“It’s not healthy David!”) the two decide to team up for their mutual benefit and pretend to date. But can they keep it all pretend or do their hearts have something else planned for them?</p>
<p>Modern AU, High School AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Arrangement

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing a multi-chapter! I'm nervous. Let me know what you think, please and thank you!

David Washington lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling feeling drained and exhausted. Mostly regretting his choices. It was Friday night and he’d never felt more tired. Thank god it was the weekend, he didn’t think he could face school in the morning. Well,he still had homework and other things to do but at least he was able to sleep until 10am if he wanted. So much had happened over the past few days, it was such a mess! How had this begun?! Wash was still struggling to sort out how it had started, or how he had gotten here.  
It probably began with the conversation he’d had with his mother...

“I’m just worried about you, David! It can’t be normal to be alone all the time!” She said to him from across the table, a piece of chicken on the end of her fork. “People your age shouldn’t be alone! It’s not right!”

Wash sighed into his dinner. “I’m not alone, Mom. I have plenty of friends.”

“You know that’s not what I mean,” she said briskly. Sadly, Wash did know what she meant. They’d had this conversation many times yet she still insisted upon having it.  
“It simply can’t be healthy to spend all your time pining for one person and never even looking at anyone else! It just isn’t good for your mental health. You should at least try to date other people!”  
She didn’t even bother to emphasise her sentence. She’s said the exact same thing to him a hundred times before. 

“Well what would you call what I did with Maine? Does that count as a relationship in your eyes, Mother?” Wash said, sarcasm heavy on his voice. 

He was so sick of this conversation. Quickly, without him even realising, his voice turned biting. “Or Frank? Do they not count to you because it wasn’t with a _girl_ or-” 

“Don’t be silly David,” his mother cut him off, waving her fork-holding hand at him. “You know I don’t care about that. What I do care about is you not spending your whole life waiting for that silly girl you like to pay you the slightest bit of attention.”

Wash seethed quietly at that, jaw clenched in an attempt not to snap at his mother. He looked over at her, at her blonde hair which was only a few shades lighter than his, her dark brown eyes so unlike his grey – even her perfectly styled hair and flawless make-up, the way she hate so carefully so as to not smudge her blood-red lipstick. They might look alike but really, they couldn’t be more different.)

Wash swallowed before saying,“Please stop making this about me and Connie. It’s not. I’m not dating anyone but it’s not because of her. I’m not alone nor am I lonely, and I’m perfectly healthy. Now could you please drop this?”  
He knew she wouldn’t. He didn’t know why he continued to ask but he hoped that one day, she would get the message. He was fine.

“I just worry, David.”

“Mom-”

“David, can’t you just try to see it from my point of view?” she asked.There was a slightly demanding tone to her voice. “It makes me look bad to the other parents when my son is the only one not going out on any dates! It makes us look like oddballs or loners! Is that what you want?”

Wash stood. He couldn’t take this anymore.  
“I’m going to take my dinner to my room. We’re done talking about this.” He turned to leave.

“There will be no eating in your room when your father gets home next week.” his mother said to his retreating form. “And we will certainly be continuing the conversation with him. He agrees with me!” she called.

“Don’t I know it,” Wash mumbled, before racing up the stairs, plate in hand, to the solitude of his room.

Wash ate his dinner while watching a movie on Netflix, his computer sitting on two pillows in front of him. His phone sat next to him, buzzing every so often with messages from his friends but he really didn’t have the energy to reply. The conversation with his mother had drained everything from him. He was just so fatigued by it all. Why couldn’t his mother understand he was happy not dating anyone? Why couldn’t he keep his parents out of his personal life? Why couldn’t his parents, as well as his friends, leave him alone about the fact he was still hung up on Connie? Why couldn’t they just leave him and his unrequited crush be? He sighed. Why wouldn’t everyone just stop badgering him and let him live? Was it so hard? Too tired to concentrate on the movie, Wash shut off his laptop and went to bed, hoping and praying he had enough energy to get through school the next day.

When the next day came, it was apparent he did not – in fact, none whatsoever. He woke up exhausted but there was nothing new there. Wash tiredly stumbled through his morning routine of groaning, drinking coffee, groaning, showering, sighing and getting dressed before downing some more coffee and driving to school. When he pulled up into the parking lot and got out of his car, North was upon him before he could blink.

“Hey, man, good morning. Week is almost over! Can’t wait for the weekend! Why did you not respond to the messages last night?”

Wash had to hold in a groan as he turned to face the blonde.

“Sorry. I got tired last night and didn’t bother to read them. Figured you’d fill me in on what I missed.”

Wash had checked his phone that morning to see that WhatsApp group “freelancers” had 326 unread messages. There was no way he was going to read all of that.

North shook his head. “The reason we have you in the group chat, Wash, is we’d like you to contribute every so often. You know, be a part of the group.”  
They started to walk towards the building together, side by side.

“I am part of the group. Only not after 10pm on a school night!”

“We had this conversation at 7:30.”

“Just tell me what I missed, North.”

They’d stopped outside Wash’s locker so he could get his books for French and History. What a way to start the day. Wash began to swap his books as North spoke.

“Well, Maine’s parents will be out of town next weekend so he’s going to throw a party. You’re coming, right? He really wants you to be there.”

“Of course I’m coming. Why wouldn’t I come?”

“I dunno man, how were we supposed to know when you didn’t respond to the messages?”

Wash rolled his eyes and reached to pick up his backpack. “I’d never miss out on one of Maine’s parties. He always has so much booze, it’s bound to be a good time.” Together they turned to walk to room D210 for their dreaded French class. “Did I miss anything else?”

North adjusted his bag on his back before rambling. “Eh, nothing much. Carolina made jokes at York’s expense, bitched about her brother, nothing new. York pretended to be cool with what she said but texted me privately, whining. South was rude and sarcastic. We planned the party. Mostly we talked crap about you, hoping you’d see the messages and throw a hissy fit. Didn’t happen so now I just feel mean. Maine stood up for you though, if that means anything.”

It didn’t. 

“So what you’re saying is, in over 300 messages, the same shit was said as in any other conversation? Swell.”

Wash loved his friends, he really did, but sometimes it drove him crazy how they expected him to be on all the time. If he hung out with them at school and texted them all day, and hung out with them all weekend, how could they expect him to have anything new to talk about? He needed time to himself too. They were all social people, extroverts. Wash was not. He needed down time to himself. He didn’t need constant conversations where little-to-nothing new ever happened. But, he could put up with it.

“What can I say, we’re a predictable bunch,” North said, to placate him, Wash gave what he hoped was a cheerful smile.  
“And, there was something else..” North let that hang for a second.  
Wash looked at him curiously. “What is it?”

“Well.. Maine did mention a few of his friends from out of town might be coming to the party…”  
Again, North let the sentence hang awkwardly in the air. Wash waited for him to continue.  
“He kinda hinted most of them weren’t straight... Might be the perfect opportunity for you to..”

Wash’s temper immediately flared. “You can’t _seriously_ be telling me you want to set me up with one of these people! Oh for God’s sake, North! Why can’t you people just leave my love life well enough alone?”

“Hey, hey no one said that!” North threw his hands up defensively. “No one said anything about love life!”  
Wash raised an eyebrow at him as he walked up the stairs to the class. 

“We just thought,” North continued, looking apprehensive at Wash’s outburst. “We thought it might be a good distraction for you. You know, get your grind on with someone you most likely won’t see around. Work out some sexual tension. You know, bow-chicka wow wow.”

Wash rolled his eyes and laughed. “You’re spending too much time around Church’s friend, Tucker.”

North seemed to brighten after hearing Wash laugh. “Just promise me you won’t write it off. Okay? It would help, get your mind off you-know-who.”  
Wash laughed again, ignoring the sinking feeling in his stomach as, once again, his friends wouldn’t leave him alone about the Connie business.  
“C’mon,” he said, turning into the hallway their class was located on. “Let’s get French out of the way first, then I’ll worry about next weekend.”

“Good idea,” North said, leading the way through the doors.

Wash braced himself as he sat down, looking at the board full of impossible conjugations, his mind already heavy with what North had said. Today was going to be a long day. 

It was during History that Wash decided he felt too overwhelmed and took a bathroom break. He needed to get out of that classroom and out of the way of people before he exploded. The thoughts of all that school work made his brain want to implode. He needed a few minutes to himself.  
Sadly, that plan did not go as expected. As Wash pushed open the door to the bathroom, he heard someone talking. So much for his peace and quiet.

“Mom are you fucking serious right now?” the voice said. It was a familiar voice too...  
“I’ll use whatever fucking language I want when you’re threatening me with this! I can’t believe you’re actually going to do this!” the voice continued. “It’s practically child cruelty!”

Wash rounded the corner into the space of the bathroom to see Tucker standing at the sinks. One hand on the countertop, the other holding a phone to his ear. Wash felt indescribably uncomfortable overhearing this. He knew Tucker, sure, but not well. He was more a friend of a friend than anything else. They knew a lot of the same people and went to some of the same parties but they never hung out together. All Wash really knew about Tucker was that he was a self proclaimed “ladies man”, made crude jokes and sucked at video games. Wash definitely didn’t know him well enough to be hearing what he was hearing right now.  
Wash caught Tucker’s eye in the mirror so he nodded, and rushed into one of the stalls, hoping to avoid any awkwardness. Tucker nodded back but seemed to preoccupied with the phone call to really notice him. While Wash attended to his business the phone call continued outside.

“I seriously, genuinely, _honestly_ , cannot fucking believe you’re threatening me with this, Mom. This is literally the worst thing a parent could do. … Yes it is threatening! What else could this be fucking called? ... Blackmail is more accurate but you’re the one who said it not me. ... How did I break the fucking rules? You set the rules, I obeyed. I found a loophole, sure, but I was still doing what you fucking asked! Now suddenly you’re upset and you’re taking it out on me. Mom, this isn’t fair. … Don’t make this about Junior, this hasn’t got shit to do with him!... You’re the one dragging him into this, and this has jack shit to do with him, Mom!... You can’t just fucking play around with the future, _my life!_ like this Mom! … YOU ARE! YOU LITERALLY ARE THOUGH! You’re fucking playing God with my future because you don’t like how I deal with my life and it’s not fucking fair. I can’t believe you’re doing this.”

Wash really wished he’d waited before going to the bathroom now. Overhearing whatever conversation Tucker was having with his mother was the most awkward experience of Wash’s life to date. He could not believe he was here right now. He’d tried to take his time in the stall, hoping that Tucker would finish his call and leave but Wash didn’t see that happening. The longer he stayed the more awkward it got. He was sure Tucker had forgotten he’d even walked in here. Plus, he’d been gone from class too long now. He had to be getting back. Reluctantly, Wash flushed the toilet and opened the stall door. He saw Tucker start at the sinks, turning hurriedly. Wash was right, Tucker had forgotten he was there. 

_This is awkward._

Tucker looked at Wash. He looked embarrassed and apologetic. Wash winced at the sight. He just kept making this worse and worse. Wash went to clean his hands at the sink. Tucker turned, a hand raising to tug at his dreads before continuing to talk on the phone.

“Mom, I should probably be getting back to class. I’ll talk to you when I get home. Hopefully you’ll see fucking sense in the few hours you have to think. Yeah, whatever. Bye.” Tucker quickly hung up. He turned to face Wash.  
“Man, I’m so sorry you had to hear that. I completely fucking forgot you walked in! This is so embarrassing...”  
Tucker was playing with his dreads nervously as he talked.

“It’s okay.” Wash replied. “I’m sorry I heard it. That seems private.”  
Tucker nodded, looking distracted.

_I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?_ Wash thought, before saying, “Is everything okay?”

Tucker sighed. “No, not really. My parents are being fucking ridiculous. They’re saying if I don’t stop sleeping around, or fucking date someone I don’t know, they’re not going to pay for me to go to college.”

“What??” Wash said, incredulous. That seemed way harsh. What parent wouldn’t send their kid to college because of something like that?

“Well... kinda,” Tucker continued. “They said they won’t pay my living costs. We qualify for grants and stuff but they won’t pay any living costs. Which means I won’t be able to live away from home. That means I’ll have to live at home and go to community college, or stay here and get a job, save for a few years and then go to college. Which I don’t want, I need to get out of this fucking town. The college I want to go to, the only place that has the degree I want is on the other side of the fucking country. And now my parents say they won’t help with living costs when before they said they would. Like what the fuck? Because I like to sleep with people? Whatever, it’s bullshit.”

“That does suck, man. I’m sorry your parents suck.”

“Like, a few months ago we had a fight about this too, but I thought they dropped it!” Tucker continued. 

_Dear god,_ Wash thought. _Does he ever stop talking?_

He really wished he a had a watch or his phone with him. He was really conscious of how much class time he was missing. But Tucker just kept talking, and he didn’t want to be rude.

“Like, they told me to stop bringing random girls home on the weekend, which I never fucking did anyway it happened like twice, they said it was bad for my brother to see that, which again, is bullshit because he wasn’t seeing anything? He was on the side of the house, plus he’s four, he doesn’t know anything that’s going on. But they’re my parents so I stopped bringing people home. But then they got pissy because I would stay over at people’s house at the weekend. They yelled at me and I was like well, what else am I supposed to do? I can’t bring people here, so I go with them. Then they yelled at me, saying I shouldn’t be sleeping with randoms anyway, why can’t I be a normal teenager and _date_ but that shit ain’t me, y’know? And now I guess this is their next move to stop me from having sex. Take college away from me. It’s utter bullshit man.”

Wash had to sympathise with him there. Tucker looked so upset by this. From what he knew of Tucker, he wasn’t the type to open up like this. That was a sign of how much this must be getting to him. Wash tried to relate. 

“I get you, man. My parents are always pressuring me to date as well.”

“Oh yeah?” Tucker asked distractedly, his heart not really in it. 

“Yeah. Not quite that level though, thankfully.”

Tucker hummed in agreement, nodding.

Wash kept talking. “Yeah, they keep going on and on about how it isn’t healthy for me to be so alone all the time. As if a relationship is the only way to ‘cure’ being lonely. I’m fine anyway.”

Tucker didn’t seem to be paying too much attention to Wash, he was playing with his phone and kicking at the ground, looking heart broken. And Wash, being the kindhearted and sentimental idiot he was, wanted to help.  
So he joked.,“If only you were into dudes. We could tell our parents we’re were dating, then we’d both be in the clear! Ha!”

Tucker’s head snaps up, his full attention now on Wash. He blinks before saying,

“I am.“

What? 

Tucker continued, “I _am_ into dudes. I’m bi...”

Oh...  
_Oh._

“Oh my God we should pretend to date!”

“No! Wha- NO! I was kidding! We can’t date, that would be ridiculous!”  
Tucker didn’t listen.  
“I forgot you were into guys! Of course you are, didn’t you date Doc for like two seconds? And that big scary mute guy. Dude, this is perfect! We could pretend to date!” Tucker beamed.

Wash tried to interrupt, sputtering, anything to stop him but Tucker couldn’t be stopped. He kept rambling on. 

“It’s perfect! We could totally pretend to date and it wouldn’t be weird! We actually know each other, we have a lot of the same friends so we have hung out before. I know you’re not insane or anything and my parents have heard me mention you before so they couldn’t be too surprised! Our friend groups aren’t so close that us pretending to date would ruin anything, but again, it wouldn’t be weird. They know we know each other. They’d probably be a bit surprised but they’d get over it. It wouldn’t make things too awkward when we break up because they aren’t really that close either! And we’d break up before going to college, obviously we wouldn’t continue the facade long distance.”

Holy crap, Tucker had the whole thing practically planned out. How the hell did that happen, he mentioned it only a second ago! Wash was reeling. This is what he got for trying to be nice, trying to make a joke. How had this happened?

“Tucker wait, I don’t know that this is actually a good idea...”

“Why not? It could work! You said you want your parents off your back, this gets them off your back! My parents will only pay if I date, I’ll date! We both win! What could go wrong?” Tucker looked at Wash with a smile on his face, eyes sparkling.

“I dunno…” Wash said, unsure. Wash didn’t know how he’d feel _dating_ Tucker, even if it was fake. They wouldn’t just have to convince their parents.

“My parents are my friends on Facebook, they’d see if we weren’t dating. We’d have to do… _couple things_... around our friends too and I’m not sure they’d believe me...”

“‘Course they would. We already know a lot of the same people, thanks to Carolina, Church and Tex. You know Doc, who’s friends with my friends. We already go to a lot of the same parties and hang out at the same places. All we’d have to do was hold hands, maybe a kiss on the cheek and take pictures. No biggie!”

Wash still wasn’t convinced.

“Look,” Tucker continued, “I know it would be so hard for you to kiss me and not want to ravish me right then and there. Many others have had that same problem! It’s why I’m banned from Denny’s, but I’m sure you have more self control than them and could make it through.”

Wash rolled his eyes. “I’ll have to restrain myself, but I could do it.”

Tucker grinned. “See? We can do this! So, what do you say? You want a piece of this?” Tucker wagged his eyebrows suggestively and gestured his hands towards his body, focusing on his crotch.

Wash didn’t even have it in him to roll his eyes once more, he was feeling too overwhelmed. This was all too much for one morning. Could he fake date Tucker?

“Fuck… I am not deciding this in the bathroom when I have to go back to History in a second!” He said, his hand rising to grasp his hair. “I... I can’t even think straight this is too much!” 

“It can be pretty hard to think straight when you aren’t straight, amirite?”

“Shut up, Tucker,” Wash said while sighing in exasperation.

“It can also be hard to think straight when you’ve got all this sexy right in front of you,” Tucker said, once again gesturing to himself and rolling his body. Wash felt blood rush to his face, turning it bright red, and stared at the floor. What right did he have to be able to move his body like that? It was downright immoral. 

“Shut the fuck up, Tucker,” he said through gritted teeth.

“You don’t have to decide right now if you don’t wanna dude, it’s cool.”

Wash glanced up at Tucker, and he seemed earnest. He was no longer making lewd body motions and instead was leaning his hip against the sink. 

“I guess it is a big decision to make,” Tucker continued, “but I think you should consider it. It would work out for the both of us! Just text me later and we can talk about it more, okay?”

Wash studied Tucker. He genuinely seemed like he wanted to do this, to pretend to their friends and family that he was dating Wash. Tucker didn’t seem ashamed or embarrassed by the idea. And Wash couldn’t deny it would help to have his parents (and his friends) off his back about pining over Connie for forever being “unhealthy”. And, really, would pretending to date Tucker be the worst thing? Tucker was a pretty good looking guy with his tall, toned body, his long dreads. Wash’s parents definitely wouldn’t approve of the nose piercing or the ripped jeans but Tucker made them look good. Wash could do worse for himself. 

“I’ll think about it,” Wash said finally. “Yeah... okay...I’ll text you later.” Wash did, in fact, have Tucker’s number thanks to that party where Tex got drunk, punched a wall and had to be taken to the hospital. Wash wasn’t at that party so he was obviously the only sober one, and had to drive her. Tucker was the one who’d called him and Wash had had his number ever since. Never had to use it before now.

Tucker grinned. “Sweet. Well in the case, I better get back to class.”

Before Wash could say goodbye, Tucker continued talking. _He has a bad habit of never shutting up, doesn’t he?_ Wash thought.

“UGH.” Tucker groaned, throwing his head back as he did. “French class. Why do they bother teaching that class when all the French I’ll ever need was taught to me by four sexy singing ladies?”

Wash raised an eyebrow at him. Tucker saw the action and sang to clarify it to him.

“ _Voulez-vous couchez avec moi, ce soire._ ”

Wash rolled his eyes. Tucker seemed to elicit that reaction out of him quite often.  
“Get out of here before I kick the shit out of you, Tucker.”

Tucker laughed but turned toward the door as he did. He threw a wave over his shoulder as he was leaving, calling “Later, lover!” as the door opened.

Wash sighed, but caught himself smiling as he did so. Maybe “dating” Tucker wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world...

Wash made it back to history class, finally. He got reprimanded by his History teacher though, but Wash told him he’d been feeling ill and that’s what took him so long. It must have helped that he was quite shaky after the conversation with Tucker that Mr. Harris believed him. North must have guessed there was something up because he kept trying to get Wash’s attention, gesturing and whispering to him. Wash just shook his head and tried to focus on the class. Tried, and failed. 

Between North trying to get his attention, North whispering loudly to South and York about what was wrong with Wash, and Tucker’s proposal floating through Wash’s head History just didn’t feel all that important at the moment. Could he seriously be considering Tucker’s offer? No, of course not. Pretending to date Tucker would get his parents off his back, sure, but it would mean lying to them. Was that something he wanted to do? Not to mention it meant lying to his friends. It meant not being able to ask any of them for advice about this either because it had to be a secret. It meant kissing and hugging Tucker around their friends, hoping they’d make it into pictures so their relationship seemed believable. The thought of kissing anyone so publically made Wash turn beet red. No wonder York was so worried, his face felt radioactive. 

But, on the other hand, he couldn’t just turn it down, could he? Not when Tucker’s future was literally depending on this. Wash sighed. Why did he have to open his damned mouth? It made everything more complicated. This was the universe’s way to of telling him not to make jokes. This is what happened to him when he made jokes. Could he genuinely pretend to date Tucker? Wash didn’t know.  
Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the bell, ringing loudly.  
Holy crap had he really wasted his whole class, not paying attention? How was it lunch already?  
He quickly began packing up his stuff, hoping his friends would leave him alone. Of course, it was absurd to hope for the impossible. North and York immediately pounced on him.

“Why are you acting so weird,” York demanded at the same time North asked, “Why are you so red?”

“I’m not acting weird!” Wash said, defensively. 

The two boys gave him a pointed look.

“I always act this weird!” Wash said, instead. 

That didn’t appease them, however. Wash sighed.

“Look, nothing happened. I just - “ Wash didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t tell them what really happened with Tucker, it seemed too private. But he couldn’t tell them anything else, not unless he came up with something. Fast.

Thankfully, he was saved by South.  
“Losers, can we talk and walk at the same time? I want to get to lunch already.” She turned to leave, assuming they’d follow, or not caring that they didn’t.  
God bless her and her love for food. God fucking bless.

Wash rushed to follow her out the door. He’d have to do something to thank her later. York and North followed quickly after Wash, refusing to let him off easy. 

“So what’s going on with you, man?” York asked. “Why were your hands shaking when you tried to take notes?” Wash was surprised to hear this. He’d taken notes?

“Yeah,” North said. “And why were you blushing a red to rival Rudolphs nose? Santa should be along any minute now to ask you to be his replacement!”

Wash and York both chuckled. “I wasn’t that bad,” Wash replied.

“You weren’t sitting next to you,” North insisted. “Yes, you were that bad. Now what’s going on?”

“Nothing!” Wash stated. He didn’t have to look to see the other two didn’t believe him. What could he say to convince them?

“...On my way back from the bathroom I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and I tripped over the janitor's bucket,” Wash lied. “It was empty, thank god but it was still really embarrassing and I felt like an idiot. That’s all.” He looked at the others to see their disbelieving gaze.  
“I swear that’s all that happened. I made a fool of myself and I’m embarrassed thinking about it. Please don’t tell the others.”

There was a short silence. York broke it, laughing loudly. 

“Oh man, Wash. Did you really trip over his bucket?”

They believed him. Thank god.

“Yeah,” Wash mumbled. “Mop hit me in the crotch and everything.”

Both boys were laughing loudly at his expense now. 

“What would we do without ya,” North said, throwing an arm over Wash’s shoulder. “What would we do without ya?”

They arrived at the cafeteria then and went to their usual table where the rest of their friend group was sitting. The Freelancers. Wash hated how they called themselves that. It was a stupid inside joke that had caught on and now its was the only way the group would be referred to. Every group chat they had was named “The Freelancers”, their private facebook group was called The Freelancers, Once York handed in a group assignment titled “Project Freelancer” when he forgot to change it to the actual name of the class. Luckily, Reggie,the teacher knew them and thought it was funny so they didn’t lost any marks for it. Mostly lucky for York because Carolina would have kicked his ass if he’d made her grades go down. She could be really scary when it came it being top of the class. 

Right now she sat at their table, book propped up in front of her as she chewed her lunch. She studied every moment she could. She only looked up briefly to smile at York as he sat down next to her, slinging his arm around her shoulder. Then she went back to focusing on her book. Wash sat down opposite her, looking around at the table to see everyone. North had sat down next to York, South was to his side. Across from her was Maine, taking up twice the space of a normal person, who Wash was sitting beside. To Wash’s other side was the empty space which Connie usually sat in. It was vacant more often than not these days. Wash turned to look for her, spotting her at the table with her new boyfriend and his friends. Wash didn’t trust them. He turned back to his friends to see South’s angry face.

“Here we fucking go,” she spat. “Not even two minutes into lunch and you’re already going through your abandoned puppy dog act. Seriously Wash, you need to get over that.”

Wash felt miffed. “I just don’t like how she hangs out with them all the time now. We’re supposed to be her friends, y’know?”

“She’s known them for years, Wash,” Carolina said, not unkindly, eyes not leaving her book. “She’s been boxing with Kyle for years, she’s known him and all his friends for that time. It’s not weird that she’d spend her time with them now that’s she’s dating Chris.”  
“I get that, I still don’t like it though,” Wash replied.

“You’re jealous,.” South said.

“It’s not just that,” Wash insisted. “They just.. rub me the wrong way. I can’t explain it.”  
Wash cast another glance at the other table. Chris had his arm around Connie’s shoulder and she leaned into him, whispering something into his ear that made him laugh.  
Wash hated seeing her so happy with him. He hated that he hated it, but he couldn’t stop. She’d just up and left the Freelancers one day to hang out with Chris and his boxing friends. She’d left Wash and he hated it.

“Whatever,” South scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You need to get over it and move on. I did. You’re the only one still salty. Get. Over. It.”

Wash forgot South and Connie had dated. South, like Wash, had been harboring feelings for Connie for years. Unlike Wash, South actually had the guts to do something about it. The two of them had made an amazing couple for the brief time they were together. Fiery, explosive, amazing. But short lived. Wash wished he could say he’d hated the two girls being together as much as he did Chris and Connie being together but he didn’t. He’d actually been happy for them. He’d loved seeing them together, seeing them be affectionate, the way South lit up whenever they’d kissed. They were so well suited for each other. Why couldn’t he just be happy for her now? He felt like there was a reason but before he could ponder it too deeply someone had thrown themselves down into the vacant seat. Someone clad in leather and ripped jeans with long blonde hair.

“Sup, dickheads,” Tex said as she sat down. “I heard about a party going on? Fill me in.”

“Do you ever make normal entrances into conversation?” Wash asked, heart racing more than he’d liked to admit. Tex’s sudden appearance had scared him. Couldn’t she walk over like a normal person, not fling herself into the vacant seat, making the whole table move a few inches? Honestly, everything with her was such a show of strength.

“Nah,” Tex said, grinning. She leaned forward on the table, elbows wide, taking up a lot of Wash’s space. “Too boring. Now, tell me about this party.”

Tex’s appearance had made Carolina close the book and put it down. It was the first time her head had lifted since she’d sat down. This wasn’t good news.

“Hey Tex!” York said easily, “Yeah Maine’s party next weekend! It-”

“I didn’t know you knew about it,” Carolina said, icily. “Who invited you?”

“Maine did,)” Tex replied nonchalantly. “We train together sometimes and we’re kinda friends. He mentioned it to me this morning but you know how he is. Getting information out of him is like getting blood out of a rock.” She smiled and shook her head affectionately. “He said you guys would have all the info though. So, date and time? BYOB? Come on, what’s the story?”

“Give me your phone, I’ll put Maine’s address in for you,” North said. Tex handed her phone over.  
“Maine always insists his parties are BYOB but he always buys more and plenty of mixers. You don’t have to bring your own, but if you want to be in Maine’s good graces you should. Even if it’s just a 200ml and you drink some of his, he’ll appreciate it. It’s next Saturday at about eight or nine pm. Casual dress, obviously.” Tex nodded as North rattled off this information, typing in her phone as he did so.

“Cool,” she said, reaching out to take her phone off North. She turned to Carolina as she said “Your brother will be coming with me, of course, and he’ll probably insist on bringing his loser friends along. Could you guys run that by Maine for me?”

“No problem, Tex,” York said, preemptively cutting off what they all knew would be Carolina’s rant. Her annoyance was coming off in red hot waves. “We’ll let him know.”

“Thanks,” Tex said, oblivious to Carolina’s rage. “See you then.” And just like that, she was gone. The table rocked two inches to the left with the force of her pushing herself away.

“Well...” Wash said to the silence that she left. “That was…. interesting.”

Everyone muttered their agreements, turning back to their food and they finished lunch as normal. 

 

The rest of the day continued without any more disturbances. Classes were dull, chatter was mindless and Wash’s drive home was tense. He was not looking forward to dinner with his parents. His father was due home today and Wash knew his mother would try to use him to pressure Wash into dating. It was not going to be fun. Tucker’s offer did play in the back of Wash’s mind but he was afraid to give it too much thought. The more he thought pretending to date Tucker the more sick and nervous he felt. He knew he’d have to get back to him about it at some point, but today would not be the day for it. 

When Wash got home he hurried to his room, avoiding any interaction with either of his parents. The less chance they had to lecture him the better. In his room Wash wasted his time until dinner by pretending to do his home work when actually he was texting his friends. His conversation with North made him feel like he had to interact with them a little more, contribute to the group chat more. And if any of them had anything to complain about his dry jokes and sarcastic comments, well they could blame North to be honest. Wash wasn’t bothered by it, they should know what to expect from him by now. 

Six o’clock rolled around and Wash sighed. On cue, his mother called up the stairs “David! Time for dinner!” Like clockwork. Wearily, Wash lifted himself from his bed and went downstairs. Time for yet another torturous conversation about his love life with his parents. In the dining room, Wash sat in his usual seat, opposite his parents. His mother had laid out a lovely dinner of beef and vegetables but Wash wasn’t in the mood to eat. Not when he knew what was coming. But, he sucked it up and prepared himself mentally. 

“Food looks great mom!” He said, sitting down. “Hi dad. How was your trip?”

“Fine, son,” his father replied, chewing, already started on his meal. “Thank you for asking. How was school?”

“Nothing new,” Wash replied. 

Apparently that was enough of the pleasantries because Wash’s mother interrupted them.

“Now David, your father and I were talking. About you being so alone and we were thinking-”

Wash heaved a heavy sigh. “Mother, what have I told you? I’m not alone and I’m not lonely! I’m fine!”

His mother clucked. “I know dear, you keep saying. But we’re still worried about you. Aren’t we dear?” She turned to her husband then, seeking support.

His father chewed his food carefully before saying, “Your mother may be right about this, David.”  
Wash groaned but his father continued. “Spending years of your youth pining after one person who’s never shown interest in you isn’t healthy. Not mentally. We believe you when you say you’re not lonely but that doesn’t mean what you’re doing is any better. And your mother believes she has a solution.”

Wash looked at his mother, waiting for her to continue. 

“Thank you dear,” she said. “Yes, well... you see David we are worried about you. And we’re doing this out of a place of love and concern.”

Wash tensed in his seat. This did not sound good. “Doing what out of concern, mother?” he said, jaw clenched.

“I have a friend who is a counsellor. She specializes in people who have difficulty forming relationships. She said it might be good for you to go to a few sessions with her. She does group and individual sessions and we want to sign you up for both. It will help you work out any… any issues you may have overcoming this crush you have. She assures me all her methods are safe and non-threatening and tha-”

“I am **not** going to a counsellor!” Wash insisted. He had to fight to keep his tone level. They wanted to send him to counselling? Counselling was for people who needed actual psychological help, for people who’d experienced trauma. If he went he’d look like such a freak. “There’s nothing wrong with me! I don’t need counselling!”

“David, honey, we’re not saying there’s anything wrong with you! We’re just worried about you!”

“Why won’t you listen to me when I tell you that I’m fine? And that I’m happy? You have no reason to be worried!”

“David,” his father said. “The fact that both relationships you’ve been in ended because of this crush you have, you’ve had for years now, is not a normal thing. We do have a right to be worried about you and we are.”

Wash sputtered. He couldn’t believe his dad was siding with his mother! 

“But I’m fine!” Wash insisted. 

“By your own estimation,” his father replied calmly. Ever the businessman.

“But-”

“Look, sweetie, we wouldn’t be as concerned as we are but you haven’t had a date in so long! You aren’t moving on at all!”

“That’s not true!” Wash said, knowing it was.

“Oh really?” his mother said, disbelieving. “Who, pray tell, have you been on a date with? Hm?” she asked, arms folded.

“Well, I.. uh.. I...”

His mother looked pleased. “I’ll call Emily in the morning to schedule your sessions.”

Wash’s mind raced. How could he get out of this one? 

“I haven’t been out on any dates,” he said, regretting what he said as he said it. “But I am going on a date tomorrow. With a guy from school.”

Both his parents looked up in shock.  
“You are?” his mother said, surprise evident in her tone. “Who?”

“A friend of a friend. I don’t know if you know him? His name is Tucker.”  
Wash felt the blush creep on his cheeks. There was no going back now. 

“He’s Carolina’s brothers friend,” Wash continued. “We’ve known each other for a while and he asked me out the other day. He’s coming over later tonight to hang out and we’re going out tomorrow after school.” Wash prayed they believed him and he prayed Tucker was free.  
“I didn’t want to tell you because it’s only one date, it might not mean anything. But yeah... we’re going to go out.”

His parents seemed skeptical.  
“Really...” his mother said while his father examined him closely.  
“I think I’ve heard you mention this boy..” he said. “The one with the dreads, am I right?”  
“That’s him.”  
“Well, I guess we can hold off on calling Emily until Monday, can’t we?” Wash looked between his parents, praying to any god that might be listening that they wouldn’t call Emily. “If the date goes well, we won’t need to call her. If not, he can go to counselling after that. Is that fair?”

Wash watched as his mother considered. “Yes. That seems fair. If anything, it might be a benefit in the sessions! But yes, we won’t call her until we know the outcome of this date tomorrow. Do you agree David?”

“Yes. I totally agree. Thank you.”  
His parents nodded and turned back to their food. Wash was panicking internally. What had he just signed himself up for?

Wash waited for the meal to be over before running to his room and grabbing his phone. He quickly wrote a text to Tucker.

**_7:32pm_  
**Can you come over to my house? Fast. We’ve got to set some rules if we’re going to be doing this thing.** **


	2. The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wash and Tucker talk, set some ground rules, and go on their first "date"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wash's texts are in bold.  
> Texts from Tucker/everyone else are bold and italic.

Luckily for Wash, Tucker responded to his text quickly. 

**7:33pm**   
**_I knew you couldn’t resist me wash baby ;) be over soon._ **

Wash sighed but he should have known not expect better from Tucker. It was his own fault really, for assuming Tucker could be serious about something like this but alas, he was still Tucker. He hoped that Tucker could at least be decent when he met Wash’s parents.

Oh no… Wash’s parents.

Tucker couldn’t meet them. Not now, not today. Not when they hadn’t even started their arrangement or their agreement or whatever the hell this thing was. Tucker couldn’t meet his parents without them at least talking first. Quickly, Wash picked up his phone and typed out another text.

**7:36pm**   
**Text me when you get here. I want to let you in without my parents knowing. Okay?**

The reply came in not long after.

**7:38pm**   
**_Cool be there in 5_ **

Wash let out a small sigh of relief. It wasn’t perfect but it was a start. It would buy him some time before his parents could meet and judge Tucker. Before they could interrogate him. They had to at least get their story straight before dealing with crap like that. Phone in hand, Wash went downstairs to the living room where his parents sat, relaxing after a presumably long and hard day. Wash took a deep breath.

“Hey, so Tucker is on his way over here..” He said, nervously. “If it’s okay with you guys we’re going to hang out in my room for a while. Without him saying hi… I don’t you want you guys to scare him off or anything.. is that alright?”

“Sure thing honey,” his mother said, eyes not lifting from the book she was reading. “We understand.”

Wash felt his phone buzz with a text in his hand.   
“That’s Tucker. Okay, so we’ll be upstairs if you need me. Please don’t need me…..Okay”  
Wash awkwardly turned to leave.They were being oddly nonchalant about this, considering how hard they were pushing him to date not even an hour ago! As he headed towards the door he heard his parents say  
“Bless him, he’s so nervous about this isn’t he?”

“He would be. It’s been Lord knows how long since he’s had anyone over!”

Wash gritted his teeth. He was determined to make whatever he was doing with Tucker last as long as necessary to keep his parents off his back and out of his business. He read the text from Tucker.

**7:45**   
**_I’m outside what I think is your house. It’s been a long time since I was here…_ **

Wash replied  
 **7:46**  
 **I’m at the door, look for me.**

He saw Tucker’s blue jeep on the street in front of his house. Tucker must have seen him open the door because he was already out and walking up the driveway. Seeing Tucker walking towards him reminded Wash what he’d agreed to and what he was signing himself up for and he almost couldn’t breathe from how nervous this made him. Was he sure he could do this?

“Hey man!” Tucker said, stopping in front of Wash. “I haven’t been here in forever I was really worried I pulled up outside the wrong house.”

Wash nodded. “It’s okay. C’mon in, let’s go upstairs, we really need to talk.” He leaned over and grabbed Tucker’s wrist and lead him into the house. Tucker laughed.

“I knew you wanted me Wash but dragging me to your bedroom already?”

Wash blushed and immediately dropped Tucker’s wrist. 

“Are you serious right now Tucker? Just shut up.” Wash had to refrain from stomping up the stairs. He would be better than that, but he didn’t hold in his scowl. Looking back to make sure Tucker was following, he threw a glare at the boy. Tucker just laughed again, making Wash even angrier.  
“You’re so easy to tease, Wash. Calm down.”  
“Congratulations. You’ve just made my bad mood last ten more minutes,” Wash replied, dryly.

Tucker chuckled. Wash opened the door to his room, letting Tucker walk in ahead of him. “If you make a single joke about being thrown onto my bed and being done over the desk I’ll end you.”

“Bow chicka-wow wow.”

“Tucker-”

“Okay okay. It's serious time.”

Wash watched as Tucker sat down at the desk and looked around at Wash’s room. Wash suddenly felt self conscious. His room was fairly large and open, Wash didn’t like clutter. Walking into the room the wardrobe was to the left, taking up the remainder of the wall. The bed was in front with its simple grey and white sheets. Across from the bed was Wash’s desks, one for homework and study, his laptop was currently sitting on that desk next to his history assignment. The other desk was for his TV and his consoles. There wasn’t much personal decoration. No posters on the walls and only two pictures on the desk. A group picture of the Freelancers and one of Wash and Connie they’d taken at a fair together two years ago. Wash felt acutely embarrassed by it now but Tucker didn’t seem to care. He seemed a little impressed.

“What?” Wash asked. “What is it?”

“It’s nothing,” Tucker replied. “It’s just this is exactly how I’d imagine your room would be. It’s very.. you.”

Wash didn’t know what that meant but he left it. 

“Okay, so we need to talk… if we’re going to do this… this “fake dating” thing then we need to set some rules.”

“So we’re actually doing it?” Tucker asked. “You’re actually agreeing to it?”

“Yeah,” Wash said. “I wasn’t going to then something my parents said made me mad, so I told them we were going out tomorrow night. I hope that’s okay. Are you free tomorrow?”

“Yeah sure. The sooner we start this thing the better.”

“Cool… So, rules” Wash sighed. “Biggest, most important rule is: No sex stuff. Okay? We’re not having sex. Ever. Got that?”

Tucker laughed. “Wow, Wash. Way to hurt a guy’s feelings. Are you trying to say you don’t want to fuck me?”

“That’s literally what I just said, yes. You’re not going to fuck me.”

“Next you’re going to tell me I’m not allowed fall in love with you, right?”

“This isn’t A Walk To Remember, Tucker. But if you could avoid falling in love with me, that would be great.”

“Yeah, that’s going to be real hard on me…”

Wash paused, waiting for it. 

“Oh, heh…” Tucker began giggling. “Hard on... bow chicka wow wow!”

And there it was.

“...Anyway, can we agree to that? No sex between us?”

Tucker was wiping a tear of laughter from his eye. He was way too easily amused by his own jokes. 

“Yeah dude. I mean that was pretty much a given though, wasn’t it?”

“I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”

“Yeah.. okay dude. So what are the rules on kissing?”

Wash suddenly felt uncomfortable again. He wasn’t sure he wanted to kiss Tucker... oh god...

“Well, I assume a few pecks on the cheek or lips are okay but making out and stuff… I dunno...”

“Yeah I get ya. Like our friends won’t really buy it if they never see us make out, but it’s not exactly something we wanna do all the time, if no one is gonna see it, y’know? So hows about we say, a few pecks is fine but we won’t make out without, like, discussing it beforehand and we’re both prepared, and it’s… like... during a controlled situation or whatever... Would that be okay?”

That sounded reasonable to Wash. It meant he would never be blindsided by Tucker suddenly kissing him, he would be able to decide when it was okay and it gave him a chance to say no. “I can agree to that.”

“Cool.”

“Speaking of our friends… how are we going to tell them?”

“Well I was going to do it with intricate smoke signals and interpretive dance but you can tell them however you want.”

“Can you be serious for like, two seconds? Please?”

“I don’t know why you think it’s that big a deal! Our friends know each other, us going on a date wouldn’t be that weird! Just be like “Oh by the way guys, I’m totally going on a date with the hottest guy in school, be jealous.” If your friends are anything like mine they’ll mock you mercilessly but still be totally cool with it. Chill, it’s not a big deal.”

Wash hadn’t realised he was pacing until he had to stop to look at Tucker. He was so calm about it. Logically, Wash knew he was right. His friends probably wouldn’t care too much if he went on a date with Tucker. They’d be a little surprised but not shocked, it wasn’t that strange a concept considering they knew each other. But that didn’t stop Wash from panicking internally. Maybe externally, too, considering Tucker was telling him to chill. Maybe wasn’t as good at hiding his emotions as he thought he was. Wash went back to pacing, a hand tugging at his hair nervously.

“Let’s get back to rules,” Tucker said. “I’m guessing you’ll want to hold hands or something? Would that be okay?”

“Not for a while, I don’t think.” Wash replied, still pacing. “Maybe give it a week or two before we start doing that. It would be weird to walk around holding hands when we haven’t gone on a date yet.”

“Fair,” Tucker said. “Should we make plans or anything? Or cover stories? Like this whole thing is a cover for me when getting laid and clubbing, so you’ll need to be okay covering for me when I’m out. You cool with that?”

Wash had to pause there. He’d honestly forgotten why Tucker was doing this. He was so concerned with himself and his reasons he forgot Tucker had his own too. 

“Yeah that would be okay. We could say Friday is our date night or something and we spend some time together, so my parents leave me alone then you can go out to your clubs or whatever and your parents think you’re with me. Does that sound okay?”

They continued like that, for over an hour. Coming up with stories and backup plans and anything else they might need if anyone asked questions. They traded parents phones numbers in case of emergencies and Wash practically wore a hole in the carpet he paced so much. They’d even discussed how and when they would break up. Wash made it very clear that they had to break up, at some point. He wasn’t going to get caught up in a relationship like this for longer than he needed to. But finally, he felt like they’d covered everything they needed to and he could relax, at least a little. He felt so tired though. Planning like this really took it out of you.  
Wash threw himself down on his bed. “Guess you’d better get going huh?”

Tucker checked the time on his phone “Nah not really. New curfew for weeknights is 11pm so I got some time to kill if you want to go over our rules once more?”

Wash sat up. “Really? Would you mind bec-” Oh.. Wash lay down on the bed again. “Very funny Tucker.”

“C’mon man, you know I’m just fucking with you. There’s literally no need to stress about this. We’ll be fine.”

Wash knew he was right. It didn’t relax him, but he knew he was right. “Wanna watch a movie or something? Or play some games? I could do with some relaxing.”

“Well, you know what would really relax you? Bow chicka-”

“No, Tucker. No.”

“Those damn rules.”

“Just get over here-”  
“Bow chicka wow wow!”  
“-and help me pick a movie god damnit.”

Tucker came and sat next to Wash on his bed as they scrolled through Netflix. Honestly, how close they were made Wash uncomfortable but he knew he’d have to get used to it. They were going to be as close, and probably closer, over the next few months. Wash would just have to get accustomed to Tucker’s thigh lightly hitting off his as they sat together, to Tucker’s dreads brushing off his arm and tickling him when Tucker leaned too far forwards. Looking at Tucker, Wash couldn’t tell if he was nervous or anxious or excited. Maybe he really wanted to be closer to Tucker and he was just hiding behind his fear. Maybe, this could work out in Wash’s favour. 

It was then that Tucker let out a loud, wet belch. “You okay, man?” he asked, peering up at Wash.

….Or not.

 

The night passed and they watched the movie in peace before Wash snuck Tucker out of the house. He still wasn’t ready for his parents to meet him. It would be too weird, make what they were doing too real. Wash still needed to sleep on it and come to terms with everything himself. So, Tucker left and Wash went to sleep, still feeling anxious and woke up feeling unrested and unprepared for school. It was Friday which meant he had his least favourite class in the morning, he had to tell the freelancers about the date with Tucker, then he had the actual date with Tucker. Oh man, he was not prepared for this day at all. Wash sighed and made himself a strong cup of coffee. He was going to need it. When he pulled up at school, North was waiting for him. They shared a timetable so he always waited for Wash to go to class. 

“Good morning sunshine!” North said cheerily. Wash grunted in response.  
“Oh c’mon, you can’t be in a bad mood!” North said. “It’s Friday! The weekend is here! Only a few hours of torture then we’re free!”  
“It’s too early for any emotion other than “ugh”.” Wash responded. He was not a morning person.   
“We really need to work on that personality of yours, my dear Washington.” North said, tutting, turning to walk in to the school. Wash grunted again and followed him. Wash wasn’t in the mood to talk so North filled the silence with easy chatter, a conversation where Wash would have to do little other than grunt, hum or nod in return. North told him of the stupid argument he and South had gotten into the night before, how the plans for the party next week were going, musings about their friends and wondering what inane drama Tex and Church’s friends would bring. Wash just nodded and hummed when appropriate, sipping coffee from his thermos (yes, he had two cups of coffee in the morning, so what?). When they arrived at their class and sat down next to each other, North was nice enough to let the conversation die. Leaving them to sit in a comfortable silence while Wash waited for his brain to finally be awake for class and for class to start. Wash contemplated the thermos in his hand before chugging the rest of it. Whatever, it was Friday, right? He could use the boost. Just as he dropped the empty thermos into his bag, the teacher walked in and the class was ready to begin. Wash could feel the caffeine hitting him like a quiet buzz, preparing him for the day.

Thankfully, Wash survived the morning. But, as lunch was drawing near he could feel his energy dipping. He would need more coffee. As soon as the bell rang he was out the door, racing to the cafeteria with only thing on his mind. Sure, he’d probably get food too but what he needed right now, was coffee. Thankfully the line was short and Wash sat down at the table with his friends with both a thermos and a mug full of coffee. Enough to get him through the rest of the day. Hopefully. He also had a small portion of food but hey, let’s focus on the important things. The freelancers sat at their table in their usual configuration. North, York, Carolina and South, with Maine and Wash on the other side. Connie’s seat was empty but Wash would just have to resign himself to the idea that she probably wasn’t going to sit with them again. 

Maine looked at Wash with his two cups of coffee, smiled and shook his head.   
“Shut up, you.” Wash grumbled. “It's Friday, I need a boost.”

Maine held up his hands, as if to say “hey, I didn’t say anything!” but the fucker had the nerve to still smile. Wash shot him a glare before turning back to his coffee. Wash took a sip and let out a sigh of relief. It felt good. 

Maine let out a small laugh at the sight. “Addicted.” He said.

“No,” Wash replied. “Not addicted. Dependant. Totally different.”

“Still bad.”

“But still different.”

Maine laughed again but dropped it. Wash rolled his eyes at him. 

Carolina interrupted their conversation.   
“Maine,” she said, “I was wondering, why did you invite Tex to your party?”  
She said it carefully like she was trying to avoid an argument but everyone knew how unhappy she was about Tex being invited. 

Maine sighed, looked Carolina in the eyes before saying “Sign”, meaning he wasn’t going to say anything, but instead sign it. Carolina and Wash both nodded. Carolina knew sign language but Wash was more adept at translating Maine’s fast movements so they both needed to pay attention. 

Maine began to sign rapidly and Wash dictated it to the rest of the table.

“She’s fun to work out with,” he said carefully. “She’s really hard working and doesn’t take any shit, which Maine enjoys. And because he knows she can drink the rest of us under the table and that her friends are crazy and are bound to do some crazy shit. Should be a good time.”

Maine stopped signing and smiled and Wash for being his translator. Carolina was chewing her lip, clearly trying to keep her face in control. Maine had a good reason but that didn’t make Carolina any happier about it. York seemed to pick up on that, thankfully, and began to distract her from worrying about Tex.

“They are bound to get into some crazy hijinks though,” he said easily. “Remember that time Tucker was super drunk and wanted to play strip poker, but when no one would play he just took all his clothes off and walked around with pillows all night?”

Everyone at the table chuckled. 

“Or the Wrecking Ball incident,” North supplied. “Drunk Tucker is a lot of fun. If he comes along the party should be hella fun.”  
Everyone began to nod in agreement but Wash, noticing the perfect opportunity to bring up his date, cleared his throat.

“Actually, speaking of Tucker..” Wash said, somewhat nervously. He swallowed.

The others turned to look at him.   
“Yeah?” Carolina asked. “What about him?” 

“He and I are actually going on a date tonight.”

There was a beat.

“WHAT” North yelled.

“Are you serious?!” York asked.

“Yeah,” Wash said. He began to fidget with his empty mug. “Ran into him yesterday and we just started talking and joking around and he asked me out? So we’re gonna go out tonight.”

His friends stared at him in silence.

“You’re really going to go out with him?” North asked. 

“Mm-hm.”

“Church’s weird friend who makes a lot of dumb sex jokes?” Carolina said, incredulous.

“That’s the one.”

“...What are you guys going to do?” York asked.

“Dinner and a movie, probably.”

The freelancers honestly seemed baffled by Wash going on a date with Tucker. There was no mocking or teasing in their questions just genuine shock and curiosity. 

“Before any of you ask,” Wash said, “My phone will be off the entirety of the date so do not expect me to live text it to you. Do you understand? If you want any gossip, you’ll have to wait.”

He looked each one of his friends in the eyes for a second after he said that, hoping they’d understand he was serious. Mostly he didn’t want them texting him. 

York laughed. “I know we talk a lot, Wash but we’re not that bad.”

“Yeah,” North agreed. “I mean, I know we’re gossips but we can go a few hours without knowing. Right?”

South snorted. “I’m not so sure. I bet the two of you will be staring at your phones, just waiting for Wash to tell you everything.”

 

Carolina chuckled. “Chances are they’ll be together too, waiting to see who he texts first. Honestly, these two are worse than middle aged housewives when it comes to gossip!” They all laughed at that.

“Wait, so who asked who?” York demanded. They all laughed again.

“Literally proving the point.”

“Uh, he asked me… I think.”

“What do you mean “you think”? Shouldn’t you know?” South said, skeptically.

“You’d think,” Wash said, making his voice sound unsure. This had all been part of the plan he and Tucker discussed last night. “But honestly the conversation was more like arguing and jokes, teasing, and then suddenly we were agreeing to go out. I can’t remember how we came to it, so I’m just going to assume he asked me.”

North and York stared at him with blank, disappointed faces.

“Getting information out of you is useless, Washington. Useless” York said, deadpan. 

Carolina rolled her eyes at York but there was affection in her smile. She turned to Wash to ask “Are you sure about this Wash?” 

“What do you mean?” Wash asked.

“Well, it’s just that Tucker does have a reputation for being a bit of a…” she stopped, unsure how to say what she wanted without sound like a bitch.

“Player.” Maine suggested. 

“Well, yeah.”

“Slut is more like it,” South muttered under her breath, but her brother swatted at her.

Everyone turned their attention back to Wash who rolled his eyes. “It’s one date guys. If he wants to get into my pants? It’ll be harder than that.”

“I think we all know what Tucker’s response to that sentence would be.” North interrupted.

“And, if it’s only this one date?” Wash continued, “I’m sure I’ll survive. And if it's more? Well... let me go on this one before we plan further ahead...”

“As long as you know what you’re getting into.” Carolina said, studying Wash carefully. Wash just looked at her. 

“I’ll be fine, Lina.” He said. “Who knows, I might actually have fun! Imagine that, me, enjoying myself!”

The whole group laughed at that. The conversation moved on, turning back to the weird and crazy stuff Tucker had done at a previous house parties and Wash breathed a silent sigh of relief. They’d believed him. No one doubted the idea of Tucker and Wash on a date, not really. It did give Washington some confidence in their plan though. If his friends bought it so easily, maybe fooling them later on wouldn’t be so difficult. He did feel guilty about lying to them but it was a necessary evil.

Unbeknownst to Wash, Maine had seen him sigh and relax in his seat once their friends had let the topic go. Maine was a naturally suspicious person and he didn’t trust Tucker. He didn’t trust anyone outside of his immediate friend group but after seeing Wash seem so relieved after telling his friends… something didn’t add up.

_He was probably just nervous,_ Maine told himself. _Nervous about how we’d react._

Still, something didn’t feel right to him.

 

Lunch ended and Wash walked to his next class with South and North.

“The day is nearly over,” Wash sang. “Thank god.”

“Yeah.. so you’re really going on a date with Tucker, huh?”

“Yeah I am. I’m actually kinda excited. It’s been forever since I’ve been on a date.” Wash made himself feel better by telling himself it wasn’t a lie. Not completely, anyway.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“I dunno, I guess I wanted to see if it would come up naturally? Like I didn’t want to be like “hey good morning homework last night sucked also I’m going on a date” like it would have been weird, y’know?”

North nodded. “Still, if he asked you yesterday, why did you wait until lunch today? Why didn’t you tell me this morning?” Norths voice was sad, he was really hurt that Wash hadn’t told him. It made Wash feel bad, honestly.

Wash shifted, uncomfortable. “This morning, I was honestly too tired. My brain wasn’t working enough to tell you. And... I guess I wanted to work out in my head how I felt about it first. And then I guess I was scared you guys would make fun of me. You guys aren’t really the nicest about Church and his friends so I thought it would be kinda touchy.”

North nodded again, looking sort of solemn.

“You need to stop being such a pussy.” South said. “You shouldn’t be ashamed of who you date, no matter what. You want to date someone? Fucking own it. Got that?”

Wash smiled at her. “Got it.”  
He turned to North. “I’m sorry if me not telling you upset you. I really did need time to sort it out for myself first. I promise I’ll tell you everything before I tell York, if that makes you feel better.”

North grinned then threw his arm over Wash’s shoulder. “It does. I can’t wait to hear about it. You better tell me everything! No skimping on the details!”

South rolled her eyes, grinning at them. “You two are such losers. C’mon, if I have to suffer through an hour and a half of English you two better not be gushing over boys the whole time.” She jogged on ahead of them to class. 

“Yes ma’am!” North saluted, laughing before leading Wash after her down the hall.

The rest of the day passed in peace, unless you count South firing spitballs at the back of North’s heading during English, causing him to grip the side of his desk so hard he got splinters in his palm and she couldn’t breathe she laughed so hard. But, now the day was over, and Wash was waiting at home for Tucker to pick him up for their date. The movie started at 6:30 and it was 5:45. Wash sat on his bed, dressed and ready, just waiting for the text to arrive. He was more nervous than he wanted to let on. He knew it was a fake date but that didn’t make him any less nervous. He was going to spend hours alone in Tucker’s company, pretending to be on a date in case anyone saw them. They would have to hold hands or Tucker would have an arm over Wash’s shoulder and the thought terrified him. They weren’t close enough for Wash to be entirely comfortable with that but they might have to. Wash rang his hands. Could he do this? He’d have to. 

His phone chimed with a text, and Wash stood up, preparing to leave, assuming it was Tucker. It wasn’t.

Instead, he saw a text from North that read: **_Good luck tonight! You’ll do great. Don’t forget to tell me everything as soon as you get back!_**

The text ended in a kissy-face emoji and a thumbs up. Wash smiled at his phone. His friends were dorks but at least they supported him. He replied

**5:43**   
**I’m tempted not to tell you anything now, since I told you no texting.**

The replies came in quickly.

**5:46**   
**_Aw Wash! Don’t be like that :(_ **

**_This is what I get for trying to support you :(_ **

**_....You’re still going to tell me everything, right?_ **

Before Wash could send another teasing message Tucker had texted him.

**5:47pm**   
**_I’m outside. You ready to go?_ **

Wash hurried to the door. As he opened it he called “Mom! Going out on my date now! I’ll see you later!”

“Good luck!” She called back. “I can’t wait to hear all about it!”

Yeah right, Wash thought, not telling you anything.

He walked quickly down the driveway and hopped into Tucker’s waiting car.

“Looking good!” Tucker said, as Wash closed the door. Wash gave him a scathing look. Tucker just laughed at him. 

“You ready? Let’s go.”

“Eager to get started huh?” Tucker grinned. “My kinda man.” But he was already putting the car into drive and pulling out of the drive. 

Wash’s phone buzzed with another text from North.

**5:51pm**   
**_...Wash? You’re still going to tell me everything, right?_ **

Wash grinned evilly as he replied  
 **Turning my phone off now bYEEE.**

Once he’d sent the message he switched his phone off and turned to Tucker, feeling better. 

“So, how was your day?”

Tucker shrugged. “Nothing much happened. English made me want to jump off a roof and Church pissed me off to the point I wanted to drag him off the roof with me. Nothing new.”

Wash nodded. “You told your friends we were going out?”

“Yeah. They didn’t really have much to say, nothing intelligent anyway. They all made jokes but nothing serious.” Tucker shrugged again. 

“Same with mine,” Wash replied. “Though, after I told them they started to tell me stories about you. Stories from Carolina’s birthday party last year?” Wash continued in a teasing tone.

“Oh no.”

Wash grinned, continuing in the teasing tone “Yeah, apparently you really love strip poker and Miley Cyrus.”

“Bad things happen when I drink tequila.” Tucker said solemnly. “Like forgetting I’m half naked and then trying to dance to Wrecking Ball.”

Wash giggled. “I really need to see video of that.”

“You never will!” Tucker insisted. “I’ve told Church if anyone sees it I have incriminating pictures of him and Tex that will find their way around the school.”

Wash all out laughed at that. “Wait, how do you have incriminating pictures of Church and Tex?”

Tucker shuddered. “You don’t wanna know.”

Wash laughed again. “You’ll have to tell me about it sometime.”

“I’d prefer not to!” Tucker said. “I’d genuinely rather forget the whole thing. My whole brain is scarred from what I saw. Even thinking about it is giving me war flashbacks!” Tucker turned to give Wash a smile though. 

Wash was so caught up in laughing that he hadn’t payed attention to where they were going. 

“Hey, where are we?” He asked.”You passed the theatre, it was a few blocks back!”

“Nah,” Tucker said easily. “I thought we could go to the one on Second Street. You know the one with couches and bean bags instead of seats? The popcorn there is cheaper and doesn’t taste like feet.”

Wash was surprised. That was actually really considerate of him. Like Tucker had actually put thought into this date. Washington didn’t know what to make of that all.

“I’m really excited for this movie though,” Tucker continued easily. “Aren’t you? I’ve heard nothing but good reviews. And the cinematography is meant to be amazing!”

Wash shrugged. “I dunno, I’ve only seen the one trailer. I don’t know much about it, to be honest.”

Tucker looked at him, incredulously. “You’ve only seen one trailer?!”

“Yeah, I don’t even know what it’s about!”

Tucker shook his head. “Whatever will I do with you, Wash.”

“Shut up,” Wash replied, but there was no bite to it. He was oblivious when it came to movies and other pop culture. It wasn’t that he thought he was above it, it’s just he never paid attention to it.

Luckily, they were at the theatre by then, so Tucker didn’t ridicule him about it. Instead he focused on finding a parking spot. When they were parked, they walked together into the small theatre. Wash was unsure how close to walk to Tucker without making it seem awkward. He knew they should look like they were together, but he also didn’t want to walk on top of Tucker. He settled for walking next to him and trying to remain in step with him. God, he was bad at this. 

Tucker must have noticed his awkwardness because he smiled and him and shook his head. Wash blushed but could think of nothing to say to defend himself. They entered the small theatre lobby. Wash looked around and saw the “vintage” decor, the intentional shabbiness, the random exposed brickwork on the wall in the corners, next to the red wallpaper and gold patterns.

“Wow Tucker,” Wash said drily. “Never knew you were such a hipster.”

“Shut up,” Tucker replied without even a beat passing. “There’s never anybody here it's great. Totally worth the extra few minutes driving. Now go get your shit.”

“Not even going to pay for my ticket?” Wash feigned hurt. “You’re the worst date ever. Of all time.”

Tucker just snorted. “I’ll pay for your shit when we start dating for real. Until then, it’s out of your pocket buddy. Now, get a move on!”

Wash smiled but moved towards the counter to get his ticket and snacks, and then waited for Tucker to get his. The girl behind the counter gave them a smile and said “Enjoy the movie!”

Wash picked up his popcorn and soda and replied “Thanks, you too!”

It wasn’t until he heard Tucker burst out laughing that he realised his mistake.

“Uh, fuck, I mean crap I’m sorry I shouldn’t swear, um I meant-” he hurried to correct himself, but the girl looked at him liked she’d heard that a thousand times before. Tucker just placed his hand on Wash’s shoulder, turning his away from the cashier, still laughing. 

“Oh man, you’re incredible Wash! Let’s get you out of the public before you embarrass yourself more!” Wash let himself be lead by Tucker to the screen, face burning red the entire time. They walked, Tucker’s hand still on Wash’s shoulder, to the screen. The screen room was small and cozy. Nothing like any theatre Wash had been to before. There were four or five “steps” or sections, each one wide enough for multiple couches and bean bags. Tucker walked up the back where the largest couch was and plopped himself down, spreading his arms along the back of the seat. 

Wash followed but paused at the sofa, unsure how close to sit to Tucker. Did he want to sit practically in his arms, or would he prefer to be out of his reach?

“Are you going to sit or are you going to stare at me all night?” Tucker said, cockily.

Wash rolled his eyes and sat next to Tucker. Next to him, but not touching. It did mean Tucker’s arm was behind him on the back of the couch,but Wash wasn’t quite in his arms, just within arms reach. An outsider would assume they were close and came to the movie together. But that was a good thing, right? All for appearances sake? Wash sighed. He was probably over-thinking things again. This was a “date” after all. They should look like they came together. Whatever. Wash chanced a glance at Tucker, who was totally indifferent, chewing on his popcorn and looking at the blank screen. He saw Wash looking at him. 

“You alright there, Washington?” Tucker teased.

Wash forced himself not to blush. “Fine.” He spat. Tucker just chuckled. 

“You just had a crisis over where to sit, didn’t you?” He asked. Wash said nothing so Tucker laughed again. “You’re thinking too much, Wash. The reason we did this is because we’re friends… Well mostly. It’s not supposed to be awkward!”

Wash sighed. “You’re right but this is kinda weird.. I don’t want to cross any lines or anything.”

Tucker smirked. “You’re the one who made the rules! And now you’re afraid you’ll break them?!”

“No!” Wash insisted. “I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable!”

“Don’t worry about that,” Tucker said, still smiling. “I’m cool with anything. You wanna sit and cuddle here? I’m all for it? It’s you who said you’re not comfortable with certain stuff so you do whatever you’re comfortable with and I’ll follow your lead. Okay?”

Wash was looking at Tucker during his mini speech, into his eyes. Even though he was smiling and seemingly making fun of Wash, he still seemed genuine. Wash considered him for a few seconds but that smile and that sincerity never faltered.

“Okay.” Wash said, finally. “We’re not going to cuddle on this couch but from now on, I won’t overthink what we’re doing.”

“It will probably kill you, how will you manage” Tucker said, teasing.

Wash punched him lightly. “Someone needs to do the thinking for the both of us.” he retorted. 

“I’m sure we’ll manage without that,” Tucker grinned, pushing Wash back. “Because you won’t be thinking too hard, remember?”

“I might have to reconsider, now that I know you never use what’s in that pretty little head of yours.”

“Aw, Wash. You think I’m pretty?”

“Would I be dating you if I didn’t?”

They both laughed at that.

Wash liked how easy it was. Or how easy it could be, he guessed. Joking came easily to Tucker and, when Wash stopped thinking too much, he could joke easily back. Tucker wanted Wash to be comfortable and had no qualms of his own, he would do this at Wash’s pace, with Wash’s rules and he didn’t mind. That sent a trill of happiness from Wash’s chest to his stomach. Just then the lights went down and the screen lit up with logos and music. The pre-movie trailers were starting.

“Dude,” Tucker exclaimed. “There’s no one else here. We’ve got the theatre to ourselves!”

Wash looked around. It was true, aside from the attendant at the door there was no one else at the movie. The place was deserted. 

Suddenly, Tucker groaned. “I can’t believe this!” He said. “First time ever I’m alone in a theatre and I can’t enjoy it!”

“What do you mean?” Wash asked, confused. “We can do whatever we want! We can sit with our legs on the set in front of us, we can make bad jokes as loud as we want, we can definitely enjoy this!”

Tucker turned to Wash, eyebrow raised, looking exasperated. “Not the kind of ‘enjoy’ I meant, Wash.”

“Well then wha- oh.” Understanding finally hit him and Wash couldn’t fight the blush that came this time but he laughed regardless. Tucker was upset he couldn’t fool around in the back of the movie theatre. 

“This is such a waste, what a perfect opportunity and I can’t use it...” Tucker grumbled but he didn’t seem to mean it.

“Next time you’re on a date, I promise to buy out the rest of the theatre so you can do whatever you,” Wash said, giggling. 

“I’ll hold you to that, y’know,” Tucker replied, stretching back in his seat and taking a drink of his soda to watch the trailers. Wash just grinned at him.

“That movie is going to be terrible,” he said, gesturing to the screen, “It’s a sequel but it’s written and directed by different people than the original and I know they’re not going to do the universe justice.”

Wash watched, but it looked like another generic action movie to him. When he voiced this to Tucker, he scoffed. 

“Of course you’d say that, you film noob. You just don’t appreciated cinema masterpieces.”

“And ‘Fight to Kill 2: Kill Harder’ is a cinematic masterpiece?” Wash asked.

“You just don’t appreciate its genius!”

“Oh I’m sure,” Wash said, skeptically.

“No really,” Tucker insisted. He began to detail to Wash the plot, how the hero was trying to avenge his mother and brothers deaths, and how he had found the love of his life but she worked for the organisation who killed his family, and how the two of them teamed up to take down the bad guys. Tucker spared no detail on all the plot twists and the incredible cliffhanger and how no one knew if the love interest was actually evil. Tucker told him all about the universe it was set in and about the lore, he even rambled about the shots and cinematograhy. He talked and talked, through the credits and Wash didn’t mind a bit. He interjected questions or dry comments every so often and Tucker didn’t hesitate to answer or reply sarcastically back. When the movie itself actually started Tucker stopped talking and gave the screen his full attention, absorbing everything in front of him.   
He did continue to whisper comments or jokes about the actor's performance and the terrible dialogue to Wash, who wasn’t following the plot at all, just making jokes right back at Tucker. Wash wasn’t afraid to laugh loudly at Tucker’s jokes, why not, there was no one in the theatre to disturb! They made loud and rude gestures whenever something happened on screen they didn’t agree with, Tucker even threw popcorn on occasion, much to Wash and the attendants disapproval.   
All in all, they had a good time.

But, the movie ended and the lights came on and Wash had to face reality once more.

“I know we said we might go to dinner but I’m not in the mood,” Tucker said, standing up, “What do you say we get in In’n’Out and just chill in the car?”

“Sounds good,” Wash said.

 

They drove to the burger place and agree to eat it while parked outside Wash’s house. Tucker convinced him saying it would look like a bad date if he just bolted out of the car, so instead of waiting awkwardly, staring at the clock and twiddling their thumbs, they would eat their burgers. Seemed like a decent plan to Wash, so he hadn’t argued. They were now parked outside Wash’s house, radio playing quietly while Tucker tore into his burger. Wash carefully opened the wrapper around his own and took a tentative bite.

Chewing carefully, Wash spoke. “Do you think we should share some basic “get to know you, first date” information? We might as well…” He was still so unsure in himself but he knew he’d have to take some initiative.

Tucker nodded while taking a large, vicious bite from his burger. “Yeah sure, why not. Would make sense.” Tucker grabbed a handful of fries and shoved them into his mouth noisily and reached for his drink. He swallowed while Wash tried to hide his disgust.  
“Well, we’re the same age and we’re in the same grade so you know most stuff. I have a younger brother and two decent parents. Whenever I’m not pleasuring the ladies, and sometimes men, I’m playing video games with ma boys, chilling, or playing paintball with them. We tend to stick to our teams and we can get into some heated debates over who’s better but other than that we’re pretty relaxed. Not that much of trouble makers, we’re far too lazy for that shit. People like to make out we’re worse than we are. Out of my friends I dominate at Call of Duty. Anything else, do you think?”  
Surprisingly, most of this was new information to Wash. “You guys play paintball too?”

Tucker nodded. “Tex was the one who dragged Church into it, years ago, and he dragged me and Caboose into it. Mostly she doesn’t even bother to play with us anymore but we met the reds there and we’ve been a crew ever since.”

“The reds?” 

“Yeah, you know, Grif, Simmons, Donut, Sarge.”

“Why are they the reds though? Bit of a random group name.” Wash asked, confused and curious.

“Well they’re a paintball team and all of their jumpsuits are red so they’re the reds. Caboose, Church and I are the blues. Tex is a blue too when she decides to join us.”

“Doesn’t Tex wear black? How is she a blue?”

“Black is just a really dark shade of blue.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Whatever. So I guess Tex plays paintball with you guys too? And I bet you guys have much cooler team names.”

Wash blushed. “We don’t really have ‘team names’ or team colours or anything like that. Our teams tend to rotate so we just wear whatever we want. The people who work at the paintball place joke that we’re all just… freelancers.”

Tucker stared at him. “Please tell me that isn’t what you guys call yourself.”

Wash turned to look out the window.

Tucker laughed. “Oh my God that is so lame! You guys are just as big a loser as we are!”

Wash turned back to Tucker, giving him a quizzical look. “You couldn’t even boost yourselves up when insulting us?”

“Nah man,” Tucker shrugs. “We know we’re losers we’re just not afraid to admit it.” He giggled, “unlike you and the _freelancers._ ”

Wash turned away, huffing. “We don’t think we’re cool…”

Tucker laughed once more. “Wait,” he said. “So what colour do you wear?”

“Uhh grey with yellow accents. Why?”

“Just trying to picture it. Why grey and yellow?”

“Why blue? Washington countered.

“Technically I wear cyan, it’s closer to green than it is blue but if Grif can wear orange and be a red I can wear cyan.”

“...your friends make no sense to me.” Wash deadpanned.

“I really like aqua and teal colours. They bring out my eyes.”

Wash faced Tucker and examined him. His eyes were on odd blue/green colour, a stark contrast to his dark skin but it definitely interesting. 

And _incredibly attractive_ , said a voice in the back of Wash’s head which he ignored. 

“Huh,” Washington said. “Fair enough.”

“Your turn,” Tucker said expectantly. “Why grey and yellow?”

“I dunno,” Wash said, suddenly feeling scrutinized. “They’re just always been my favourite colours. I think the compliment each other.”

Wash stopped himself, unsure if he should continue but Tucker looked earnest and interested. 

“Like okay… yellow is such a bright colour right? And it can be so gaudy when it’s all in your face and it’s so attention grabbing? Right? Whereas grey is like.. such a monotonous colour. People assume it’s all depressing and I dunno, low energy but it’s not. At least I don’t think so, it’s just a background colour. You don’t really notice is. Opposite to yellow. And when you pair them you either end up with yellow, attention grabbing and gaudy with a boring monotonous colour. But grey with yellow it's like the yellow brightens up all the boring and mundane and makes it bright and noticeable but not in your face.. I just.. they work well together and I like it… I dunno..”

Wash immediately felt like he’d talk too long and too passionately about fucking _colours_ but he’d actually picked those colours so carefully and was so proud of them and no one ever really asked about colours. Not unless you were five years old and the most important thing about a person was their favourite colour. Suddenly this conversation felt silly and juvenile and Wash, oddly, felt extremely exposed.

Tucker chewed and swallowed, because apparently he still had some food remaining, to Wash’s surprise, before speaking. “I suddenly feel like I know you so much better, dude.”

Wash blushed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to rant about colours!”

“It’s cool. It does seem like lame first date conversation?”

Wash chuckled. “Yup. Now we know each other’s favourite colours. Next we should cover favourite food, favourite movie and favourite song.”

“Pizza. Fight to Kill. Anything Taylor Swift.”

“Taylor Swift? Really?”

“She’s an amazing songwriter and 1989 is the world's best album, fucking fight me.”

Wash threw his head back laughing. “You sure you could take me, Lavernius?”

Tucker gulped. “Forgot who I was talking to for a sec…”

Wash laughed again. “Mine are panfried chicken, the Godfather and I really like Muse.”

“We’re an odd pair, huh.” Tucker said, ruefully.

“I guess so.” Wash replied, before taking another bite from his burger.

“You think we been out here long enough?” Tucker asked, when Wash had finished eating.

“Probably,” Wash said, folding up the paper from around his burger and looked for somewhere to dispose of it. Tucker reached over and grabbed it from his hands and tossed it into the back seat. Wash tried not to look appalled. “I’ll throw it in the trash later,” he said nonchalantly. “Don’t worry about it.”

“You better. So I guess I’ll see you in school?”

Tucker nodded. “I’ll text you tomorrow, probably, and we can talk about Monday.”

“Okay. See you later then.” Wash opened the jeep door and climbed out. 

 

He had only taken a few steps when he heard the jeep door slam and he turned to see Tucker rushing towards him.

“What’s going on?” He asked but suddenly Tucker had his hands on Wash’s hips and was standing far too close for Wash’s comfort. Their hips were practically pressed together, their noses were almost touching, _they were close enough to kiss!_

“What the fuck are you doing?” Wash hissed.

“I saw your mom watching us through the window,” Tucker whispered urgently. “I didn’t want her to get the idea this was a bad date. So I’m pretending to kiss you.”

“What the hell,” Wash whispered back, but didn’t move away.

“I told you I wouldn’t kiss you unless you asked,” Tucker said. “And I won’t. But we can pretend, right?”

“Right,” Wash breathed. His stupid heart began to race and he could feel the blood rushing to his stupid face. He hadn’t been this close to someone else in a long time. He could feel Tucker’s breath on his lips. Washington forced himself not to look at Tucker’s eyes or his lips, for fear he would do something stupid. It had been far too long since he’d kissed someone…

Tucker’s hand moved from his hip to his face, cupping it gently but also hiding it from view from anyone who may be watching from the living room window.

“Just stay like this for a few more seconds...” Tucker whispered, shuffling his feet, moving closer to Wash, who could feel the movement of Tucker’s lips with his own. Wash shuddered.

“I think that should be good.” Tucker said, taking a step back. “Let me know how your mom reacts!” 

Wash chuckled. “I will.”

“Well, if that’s all I think it’s time for me to get to the club and get my dance on. I’ll see you later, lover.” Tucker winked before turning back to his car.

“Later,” Wash replied weakly before walking back up the driveway. He heard Tucker’s jeep honk and pull away and he closed the door behind him. 

“How was your date, honey?” He heard his mother ask from right behind the door, startling him.

Wash couldn’t help but grin and he brought his fingers to his lips, trying to make himself look dazed.

“It was… really good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started back college yesterday and the workload is already a lot heavier than I anticipated so chapters might not be as often as I'd like. I swear they will be often though!
> 
> Let me know what you guys thought, I really hope I amn't letting anyone down lmao!


	3. After the Fact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after the date and gossiping with friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wash's texts are bold.  
> Everyone else's are bold & italic

Once the date was over and Wash had told his eager and interested (nosy) mother about it, with some details exaggerated and others never mentioned, and he assured her it was great and that he’d enjoyed himself and that they’d be going out again soon, he ran to his room, exhausted, and plopped down onto the bed. Man, what a wild week. 

All he wanted to do was sleep forever, but he knew North and York would be waiting for all the details. Sighing, Wash picked up his phone and typed out a text to send to the both of them.

**9:12pm**  
**I know you guys want to hear all about tonight, but I’m not in the mood to text it all out, and I know you’ll end up asking a bunch of questions anyway, so how about you both come over tomorrow for breakfast and I’ll tell you everything.**

Wash sent the text, paused, and sent another right after.

**9:13pm**  
**And by “come over for breakfast” I mean “come over with breakfast. And coffee.” See you guys @ 10?**

Their responses came in quite quickly. North sent a crying emoji, no words at all attached, and York a thumbs up, which Wash shook his head to. Were his friends 60 year old women or 12 year old girls?  
Wash scanned his phone then, seeing if there were any other notifications. As usual he ignored the WhatsApp conversation and Facebook. He didn’t want to see any of the embarrassing photos South would undoubtedly have tagged him in. He was surprised to see a text from Connie, thought. When was the last time she had texted him?

He opened it and read,

 ** _6:13pm_**  
**_Hey, we haven’t hung out in ages! Wanna do a movie night? (:_**  
She would have sent it not long after Wash had turned his phone off for his date so he’d missed it. They literally hadn’t talked properly in weeks, spent time together in what felt like years and suddenly she wanted a movie night? Wash even felt offended by her thinking he had no other plans! He wasn’t that reclusive! Feeling hurt and slightly vindictive Wash typed out his response.

**9:16pm**  
**Sorry, I didn’t see your text! I was out on a date! If you still want to we can do movie night tomorrow? Let me know! (-:**

Wash hoped the smiley came off as passive aggressive and not genuinely happy. What could he say, he was annoyed at her. She couldn’t just up and leave him then expect him to be waiting around for her whenever she wanted it!  
Wash ignored the voice in the back of his head that told him he’d always done that before, that he’d even gone as far to drop whatever he was doing in favour of spending time with Connie. But not tonight. Not when he’d had a “date”, even a fake one, and she assumed he’d of course do whatever it was she wanted. No. Not anymore.  
He wanted to tell her an outright no to movie night but he couldn’t go quite that far. Not yet. Better be subtle about how annoyed he was. He didn’t want to do anything he’d regret. 

Wash quickly changed out of his date clothes and into pyjamas as he waited for her reply.

**_9:20pm_ **  
**_No way! A date? With who! I demand to know all the details! :D I can’t do tomorrow, going on a date myself ;) I know you don’t like doing anything on school nights so how about next Friday? We really need to catch up!_ **

Wash frowned at that text. “No way!” Was him going on a date that big of a shock? Okay.. Not to mention they were supposed to be best friends. There should be no “catching up”, not when they lived so close! Ugh, this was so annoying. Why did she have to go and leave him. He tried to keep his “tone” civil as he typed out his response, still frowning at his phone.

**9:23pm**  
**Yes, a date. Shocking I know, but it happens. It was with Tucker. You know, Church’s friend? The one who makes crappy sex jokes? Yeah. Please no comments about my standards C. ;P I don’t think I can do next Friday, Tucker and I are going out again.**

 

**_9:27pm_ **  
**_...You’re joking right? Tucker? The guy who can’t decide if he’s a hipster or a punk, and who yells “Bow chicka wow wow” loudly? At literally anything vaguely sexual? And isn’t he always bragging about the “chicks he’s banged”? Why, Wash? That doesn’t sound like you. Are you sure he even likes you?!_ **

****_9:28_**  
**_And okay if next Friday is no good what about next Saturday?_****

Now Wash was really pissed. Where did she get off judging him, or Tucker? Like her boyfriend was so god damned perfect. Throwing niceness out the window he angrily typed his response. 

****9:32pm**  
**Gosh, thanks for being so supportive Connie! I really appreciate it! Like you so kindly pointed out, it’s been a long time since I was on a date so I wasn’t exactly going to turn one down from the first person to ask me. But yeah, go ahead and judge and make fun of him. You’re totally in the right to do that! Because you’re so perfect and have never said anything embarrassing! Ever! But sure, go ahead. Be as judgey as you like :-) And, I’ll have you know I actually had a great time with him, he’s really funny and can make me laugh and hold a conversation and I might actually really like him. But whatever, he’s probably just looking for an easy lay right? Go fuck yourself Connie.** **

****9:34pm**  
Maine is having a party Saturday so I can’t. Not like you would have known. I would say you could come with but Tucker will be there and why would you want to be in the same room as him? **

Wash was fucking fuming by the time he finished typing. He’d probably said way more than he should have, and gone off at her more than was necessary but he was annoyed. He kind of took out all of his frustration for her abandoning him for her boyfriend and his friends. She never even gave him the time of day or so much as a sideways glance now unless she wanted something from him and now she thinks she can judge his dating life? So what if it’s pretend, she has no right! If he had so much as bad word against Chris when Connie started seeing him she’d have him castrated! Why was it suddenly okay for her to talk shit about Tucker? She could get fucked if she thought she could say shit like that. No way! Wash was still fuming when her reply came in.

**_9:36pm_ **  
**_Clearly I’ve hit a nerve. I’m sorry Wash. I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t actually know him so I was wrong to judge. Why don’t I come over tomorrow and we can talk? Properly. I really do miss you. 3_ **

**9:37pm**  
**I’m busy tomorrow. Goodnight Connie.**

He was done talking to her. He was done! He was too angry for rational conversation and she was still wrong. He wasn’t going to talk to her anymore.  
She sent him one more message, a simple one that read “goodnight :(“ but that only made him angrier. He tossed his phone aside and rolled away from it on the bed. What was with that frowny face? Was she trying to guilt him into feeling bad? Well it wouldn’t work! He would not be manipulated into feeling bad about this. She was the one who made shitty, uncalled for comments. She was the one who should be feeling bad, not him!

He got briefly angrier when his phone buzzed with another text but it melted away when he saw it was from Tucker. 

**_9:40pm_ **  
**_so what did your mom say about our kiss? ;)_ **

Wash grinned as he responded.

**9:41pm**  
**She loved it. She even squealed when I told her we’d be going out again. She may be more invested in this than we are!**

**_9:42pm_ **  
**_no way? haha! awesome. well i guess this just means i’ll have to up my game next time to keep her satisfied._ **

**9:42pm**  
**I don’t think her satisfaction is what you should be worried about.**

**_9:43pm_ **  
**_don’t worry, i’ll be able to satisfy you both ;)_ **

Wash balked. What the hell, Tucker?

**9:44pm**  
**Okay that went from funny to creepy real fast. Please stop**

**_9:45pm_ **  
**_haha! hey i won’t kinkshame. whatever you’re in to ;P i won’t judge._ **

**9:45pm**  
**STOP!**

**_9:46pm_ **  
**_hahaha alright, i’m sorry! just checking in, making sure we’re still good for next week. and i was kind of hoping i could call over tomorrow too? i want to go out again and it will probably be easier to convince my parents if we spend some of the day together._ **

**9:47pm**  
**Yeah that’s no problem. I have plans with North and York in the morning but I should be free in the afternoon and evening. Aren’t you at a club right now though? Why are you texting me?!**

**_9:50pm_ **  
**_yeah i am but the place is dead, and probs will be for the next 20~ minutes. it’s up to you to entertain me until then._ **

**9:51pm**  
**I would say it’s what I’m here for but I am too tired to talk much more. Going to sleep now. Good luck though.**

**_9:52pm_ **  
**_lmao u nerd. are you seriously going to bed before 10 on a friday?_ **

**9:53pm**  
**Yes.**

**_9:53pm_ **  
**LOSER.**

**9:54pm**  
**Goodbye Tucker.**

**_9:55pm_ **  
**_later lover!_ **

The text ended in a kissy face emoji. Washington couldn’t help but feel so much better after that conversation. This, he thought, is what friendship should feel like. Not draining and exhausting, or fighting. Just harmless banter. He needed more of that in his life. The conversation with Tucker had made me him forget most of his anger towards Connie. Not all, but enough that Wash no longer felt like his blood was boiling and he could settle down and go to sleep. 

He really needed more people like Tucker in his life. 

Shoving his phone back under his pillow, Wash settled into a comfortable position on his side and fell asleep.

___________

Wash’s parents were gone by the time he woke up, some spa retreat, or camping, he didn’t particularly care. All he cared about was stopping the incessant banging that was coming from downstairs. He pulled himself to his feet and all but fell down the stairs, groaning in exhaustion. He got to the door, the source of that god awful noise, and opened it with another groan.

“Morning, sleepy head!” North chirped from the other side. So he was the source of the banging... Wash attempted to glare at him but he didn’t think his face actually moved, so he just groaned again.

“I brought coffee!” North said cheerily. Wash didn’t answer, just moved aside, groaning more, so his friend could enter. As soon as he stepped over the threshold Wash grabbed the travel mug from North’s hands and swung the door closed. North laughed at him but knew better than to make fun of Wash in the morning. It took him a while to wake up and coffee was necessary for him being awake.

Wash sighed after taking a sip of his coffee. It warmed him right up and he could feel the energy pouring into his body after just a sip. “That feels better,” he smiled.

“You human yet?” North asked.

Wash shook his head, taking another sip from the warm goodness that is coffee. Wash pointed towards the kitchen and the two made their way over together. North put the bag of food Wash hadn’t noticed his friend was carrying on the breakfast bar.

“I don’t suppose I could convince you to tell me everything before York got here?” North asked, overacting his desperation.  
“No!” Wash insisted. “No, I said the both you of could come here together so I could save myself telling it twice and not to hear one of whine about not hearing it first. No, we’re going to wait until York gets here so I can get this out of the way as easily as possible. Alright?”

“Alright,” North laughed easily. “I was just checking. You know how York hates to be the last to know, I just wanted to tease him!”

Wash shook his head and took another sip of his glorious coffee.

“Speaking of York, is he on his way?” Wash asked, placing the half empty cup of coffee on the breakfast bar.

“Yeah, he texted me as he left. He should be here pretty soon. Did he not text you?” North replied.

“I was asleep until you forced me into not. I didn’t check my phone or anything.” Wash said. He was still very upset about this whole ‘being awake’ thing. “I haven’t even checked my phone. It’s still upstairs… I should probably go get it.” Wash glanced at North who was sitting comfortably on the stool. “Will you be alright here while I get it?”

“Will I be alright? Sitting here in your kitchen, alone? Oh boy, Wash, I dunno… Could be dangerous!”

Wash smirked. “Be right back.”

Wash took one more gulp of his coffee before running upstairs. He grabbed his phone from under his pillow and checked it. Only a message from his mother, telling him they’d be back around 8pm that night. Wash typed a quick reply, saying he’d see them then and he’d get his own dinner before he heard knocking at the door again. York!

Wash threw himself down the stairs again, tripping down the last few steps and landing heavily with a crash and a curse. Trying to compose himself, even though he was still in his pyjamas and messy haired, never mind after tripping over his own feet, Wash opened the door.

“Hello!” York called, cheerily. “I brought coffee!”

“Bless you,” Wash said, hands outstretched for the cup. “North is already here. Before you ask, no I haven’t told him anything so don’t get worked up.”

York pouted in the direction of the kitchen. “You better not have! He’d never shut up about it! He’d go on and on about how you like him more then! Which we both know, isn’t true!”

Wash rolled his eyes. “Come on in, and we can get this over with!”

They walked to the kitchen where North was waiting at the breakfast bar.

“Are you serious?” He cried, pointing at the cup in Wash’s hands. “You’re not even finished the coffee I brought for you!”

“...This one is warmer,” Wash mumbled into the warm goodness before taking another sip.

York laughed beside him. “You’re unbelieveable Wash! I mean, what does it say about you that we both brought you coffee?”

“That I have good friends who know me very well.”

North chuckled as York slid into the seat beside him. “I can accept that.”

Wash grinned at his friends and walked over to the breakfast bar, rooting through the bags his friends had brought, looking for something to eat. North had brought granola bars, some fruit and rice cakes. York had brought pastries like muffins and donuts. Wash laid everything out and they began to pick at the selection.

“So when are you actually going to start talking, my dearest Washington?” York said, teasingly.

“Yeah!” North cheered. “We want all the details!”

 

Wash turned away, trying to hide a smirk as he said “Oh, you know.. nothing much happened.”

Immediately his friends burst into loud, annoyed protests.

“WHAT. You have got to be kidding me-”

“I CAME ALL THE WAY HERE! WITH COFFEE! AND YOU-”

“I had to suffer through judgemental looks from some ratty cashier, buying 14 muffins-”

“You have to tell us something?!”

Wash burst out laughing. Turning back to face his friends he said “I’m kidding! And you say I’m easy to tease? You make this too easy for me, guys!” Wash saw that York had stood up and had been gesturing wildly, from the way his hands were frozen in the air, and North had pushed his chair back from the bar in anger. Wash giggled at the sight. How they hadn’t expected that was beyond him.  
“Honestly, deny you two gossip and this is what happens? I hate to see what you’re like when something _important_ happens!”

North looked vaguely affronted before he too started to laugh. York looked like a toddler,pouting. He lowered his arms before he said,  
“That wasn’t nice, Wash.”

Wash chuckled once more. “Whatever, it was worth it! Now, before you get even more worked up,” Wash gestured for York to sit back down. He did but the pout didn’t leave his face. North pulled his chair back in towards the breakfast bar.

Wash took a breath before he began. “The date itself was good. We just went to a movie and it was decent. We spent ages talking and joking. Then we had food and sat in his car for a while, talking some more. Then he uh.. he went home. Honestly, guys, I had a really good time with him! He’s coming over later today too and we’re going to hang out. And we’re going out next week…”

Wash looked up at his friends. He’d hoped just telling them the bare minimum would suffice but the looks on their faces told him otherwise. Wash tried not to wince at the feeling of guilt that twinged in his stomach. He hated lying to his friends! Technically, nothing he said had been a lie. They had gone for a movie, talked and laughed together. He had enjoyed himself. But still, it felt dishonest to gush to his friends about a date that everything about it was fake. And now they wanted more? He hated this.

“What movie did you see? Did he pay for anything for you?” North asked eagerly.

“Fuck that, get to the important stuff: did he kiss you?” York demanded.

Wash blushed at that. “We saw some indie film I don’t remember the name of. No, he didn’t pay. We said since we didn’t know who asked who out it wouldn’t be fair for one person to pay, y’know? Maybe next time he will, who knows.” Wash had practically rehearsed these answers to himself and he had to try to make sure they didn’t sound practised. He couldn’t have his friends doubting him. Not when he, and Tucker, needed this to work.

“And.. yeah.. he kissed me…” Wash tried not to meet his friends eyes, hoped the blush looked natural. Lying to his mother about the kiss had been so much easier than lying to his friends. Lying to his mother he did all the time, about small and big things alike. But lying to his friends was something he’d never done and had never wanted to do. He always strived to be honest, and here he was, telling giant bald faced lies to some of his closest friends.  
Wash knew he had to do it. For his own sanity and peace of mind, and for Tucker. He couldn’t sell Tucker out like that. So, he had to keep lying.

“It was so damn cheesy too. Like a movie moment or something. We’d sat in his car, talking. And I got out to go inside, like to date was over and we said we’d see each other today. I was halfway to the door when he raced out after me and just… kissed me.” Wash smiled as he looked back up at his friends. “He’s so stupid…”

North looked like this was the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. His face was scrunched up and his mouth in a tight lipped smiled, tight lipped in a way that looked like he was trying not to squeal with happiness. York was smiling softly at Wash.

“Look at you,” he said, voice soft. “You’re smitten, aren’t you?”

Wash tried to hide the twinge of panic he felt. Was he really that good an actor? Or were they that easy to fool?

“I really like him,” he said instead.

Wash felt even guiltier seeing the looks on his friends faces as he said that. They were so happy for him. Happy that he was _moving on_ from Connie, or whatever, and it was all a lie.  
He felt awful.

“What time are you seeing him today?” North asked, finally turning to face the food on the counter. 

“Not sure. We didn’t really specify. Sometime in the afternoon I guess? Why?”

“Just curious.” North replied before biting into an apple.

“I’ll text him and see, before I forget,” Wash said taking out his phone. He typed out a quick text to Tucker, asking him what time he’d be coming over, not expecting a reply. Tucker didn’t strike him as a “rise before noon” type, especially if he’d been out to a club the night before. But better safe than sorry, right?

“Actually,” York said. “I was going to meet with Carolina and South later for lunch. You guys wanna come?”

“Lunch?!” North said, incredulously, mouth filled with muffin. “We’re still eating breakfast!”

York rolled his eyes. “I’m aware of that, believe it or not. We made these plans yesterday, before Wash told us to come over. I think they’re shopping together or something, and I’m not about to cancel on my girlfriend, or your sister. Are you?”

North gestured at the spread in front of him. “I would for this!”

“We can bring it with us!” Wash said. “It’s not like it has to stay here. Or you could eat it now and not eat lunch?”

North scoffed. “Not eat lunch, who do you think you are.”

Washington rolled his eyes. 

“Enough bitching about lunch! Wash, I still have stuff I want to ask you about your date!”

Wash sighed. “Okay..”

__________ 

After almost an hour of answering inane questions about his date with Tucker (“What was he wearing?” “Did he put his arm around you in the theatre?”) and just general joking around, Wash and the others met Carolina and South at a diner for lunch. It was a diner they ate at pretty regularly, nothing overly special. Just a regular diner that did the best grilled cheese around and milkshakes that were to die for. When the boys arrived, Carolina and South were already waiting for them. Wash had expected them to ask him questions about his date as well but they surprised him. All the girls did was yell at them for being late, which Wash responded he wasn’t late because he was never meant to come. It was the others who were late. With that they fell into their usual banter and jokes with ease and Wash was able to spend a few hours in peace, without any imposing questions about his date with Tucker. It was wonderful, really. Just before one, however, he received a text from Tucker. Finally a response to his earlier question. 

**_12:48pm_ **  
**_hey, sorry i just woke up. is 4 or 5 alright with you?_ **

Before Wash could reply he heard York exclaim “Is that Tucker?!” To which everyone at their table all fake gasped and loudly said “Ooooohhhhhh!” as if this was a juicy piece of gossip. They were so loud that other customers looked over at them, curious. Wash blushed and slid down in his seat, head hopefully hidden from view behind the booth.

“Shut up,” he mumbled. “Let me text him back!”

“Oh, so it _is_ Tucker!” North said, gleefully. Wash elbowed him. 

**12:51pm**  
**Yeah, that’s fine. I should be home by then anyway so I’ll see you!**

“So what’s loverboy asking?” South sang teasingly. “Miss you already?”

Wash stuck his tongue out at her before replying. “Nothing, just telling me what time he’ll be over at later.”

Carolina’s eyes widened from across the table. “Didn’t you guys just go out last night?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Wash answered. “And now he’s coming over to hang out for a few hours. Something wrong?”

“The date went really well” York said, smiling.

Carolina still seemed slightly concerned. “That doesn’t seem a little odd to you?”

“No, why would it?” Wash asked.

Carolina considered before saying, carefully. “... You don’t think he’s trying to get more… _more_ out of you… is he?”

“No.” Wash said, instantly. “He’s not like that, at least not with me. I promise.”

He once again ignored the guilt he felt for keeping his friends in the dark. He understood why Carolina thought what she did, Wash was certain he’d think the same thing were he in her shoes! But he couldn’t exactly tell her the reason Tucker was coming over was so he could go get drunk and hook up with some random, now could he?

Luckily, he was saved from further questions, if briefly, by another text from Tucker.

**_12:56pm_ **  
**_hope im not interrupting anything too important, am i?_ **

**12:56pm**  
**Nope, just my friends annoying me. Nothing new here! Please continue to interrupt!**

After typing out that reply, Wash looked back at Carolina. “Honestly, Lina, all we’re going to do is hang out and maybe watch a movie again. You’ve got nothing to worry about! And, if he tried anything, you know I can take care of myself!” 

Carolina didn’t seem convinced, but she seemed appeased. She leaned back in her seat and Wash knew she was letting it go, for now.

“It was a good date though, right?” South asked, straw poking out the corner of her mouth.

“It was.” Wash said. “Good enough to warrant a second one!”

“Cool,” South replied before returning to her milkshake.

Wash waited a beat, seeing if she’d ask anything else, but her loud slurping indicated she was done, he turned to the other guys at the table.  
“See that? That is how you ask someone how their date went. You could learn a lesson from her! Don’t say “But what shade was his shirt? Maybe it meant something!” That’s ridiculous. Be more like her. Alright?”

York laughed loudly, arm thrown casually around Carolina, while York spluttered and made offended noises.  
Wash didn’t have a chance to further chastise the two idiots when he got another text from Tucker.

**_1:01pm_ **  
**_oh you want a distraction, huh? i can give you that ;)_ **

**1:02pm**  
**Oh no! Oh no!!! Not this again, not after what you said last time! NO!**

Tucker responded with only three laughing face emojis and Wash decided to leave it there for now. He turned back to his friends, smiling. He saw that York and North were watching him inquisitively, but Wash did not want to deal with that again today.  
“So, South. When are we going paintballing next?”

________________________

Before Wash knew it, their outing at the diner was over and he was at home. He didn’t have too much time to relax though. It was 2:30pm, Tucker was going to be over at four and Wash had left the kitchen and his bedroom in a total mess from breakfast that morning. 

Wash hummed to himself as he put away the plates and cutlery, mourning the half full cups of coffee he never finished as he threw them away. What a shame and a waste. But, Wash though, trying to be positive, it meant he’d only really had one cup of coffee all morning. So if he made another one, it wouldn’t be his third cup, but his second. Well third, he had had one at lunch but still. He was still one less than he actually was, and no one had any right to judge him!

It didn’t matter that he’d be alone drinking it, or that he’d been making it before he saw the empty cups. But it did make him feel a little better.

He continued to clean the kitchen, comfortable in the silence, humming to himself on occasion before moving up to his room, warm mug in his hands as he went. He left the mug on his desk and turned on the TV as he tidied his room and made his bed, the noise from the TV stopping the silence from being stifling. When everything was finally set back in the order Wash preferred it in, he plopped himself down in the chair in front of his desk, picking up the mug of coffee and sighing contently into it. He had about an hour now before Tucker got here, plenty of time for him to rest and recharge, and Wash was looking forward to it. He settled into his seat, getting comfortable, not really paying attention to what he was watching but simply enjoying the fact that he was in his own company for the moment. That was exactly what he needed.

At 4:16pm, Wash was drawn away from Wife Swap, which he had unintentionally gotten wrapped into, by a text from Tucker. 

**_4:16pm_ **  
**_be there in a second now. that okay?_ **

Wash moved up from his uncharacteristically slouched position to tap out his reply. 

**4:17pm**  
**No problem! See you in a sec.**

Wash dragged himself out of his seat to bring his long since empty mug down to the kitchen. His barefeet slapped against the dark wood of the stairs as Wash stumbled hurriedly down them, his hoodie zip lightly slapping against his arms. He wondered if he should at least pretend he wasn’t all but in his pyjamas but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He’d done more than enough socialising for today and it was just Tucker. It’s not like cared what Wash wore, or that they were actually dating. He’d be fine.

 

Just as he was putting the mug in the dishwasher, Wash heard a knock at front door. He rushed to open it.

“We have a bell, you know.” He said instead of a greeting.

“I know,” Tucker said, stepping inside. “But I didn’t want to wake you up, Grandma. I know you like to go to bed early.”

“You told me you were coming over? How on earth would you have woken me?” Wash said, rolling his eyes. 

“Whatever,” Tucker said, brushing him off. “We going upstairs? Don’t want the parents to come asking questions now do we?”

Something seemed off about Tucker, he seemed harsher or more abrupt than usual. Wash decided not to ask about it. Probably none of his business.

“They’re not here. We can still go upstairs though?”

Tucker seemed to relax, if only slightly, upon hearing that.

“Yeah cool,” he said, turning to the stairs. He jumped up the first two in one large step. “I know my way to your room by now,” he said as he went.

Wash rushed to follow him. “You’ve been here once!” He exclaimed incredulously.

“Yeah but it made an impression,” Tucker threw a wink to him over his shoulder.

Wash scoffed but blushed none the less. 

“Sadly, this time around we’ll be making less of an impression, I’m afraid.”  
They had reached the top of the stairs by then and Tucker turned to stare at Wash, eyes wide with surprise.

“Oh! _We_ will, will we? What kind of impression will _we_ be making less of Wash?” Tucker laughed.

It took Washington a second to realise what Tucker was talking about. 

“Wha- that’s not - how did. GAH!” He sputtered, which only caused Tucker to laugh more.  
“That’s not what I meant when I said that, and you know that. How do you manage to find innuendo in everything?!”

“It’s a talent,” Tucker winked once more. “You’re not going to drag me to your room, this time are you?” Tucker even jokingly held out a hand for Wash to take. Wash scowled and pushed it away before walking to him room. Tucker chuckled as he followed him.

“You make this too easy, Wash,” Tucker teased.

“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you Tucker?” Wash snapped, instantly regretting it. That was probably crossing a line. Or ten.

Luckily, Tucker didn’t take offense, only threw his head back as he laughed uproariously.

“That’s more like it!” He said, once he gained his composure. Wash only shook his head and sat back down in the chair at his desk and Tucker plopped himself comfortably on the bed, like he did it all the time. 

Wash regarded him for a moment. He still seemed like there was something wrong. He sat like he was trying to appear calm and comfortable but something about the set of his shoulders and how straight his back was gave him away. Curiosity bubbled at Wash, but he was determined not to stick his nose where it didn’t belong. 

“Why are you here, Tucker?” Wash asked.

So much for keeping to himself, he thought.

“Because I’m going out tonight.” Tucker responded shortly.

“I know that,” Wash said cautiously. “Is there any particular reason you’re going out two nights in a row?”

“Nope.” Tucker said dismissively, and turning to examine the wall to his left, so he was purposefully not meeting Wash’s eye.

Well, guess there was point trying to ask questions anyway.

“You wanna watch a movie?” Wash asked. 

Tucker turned back to look at him, regarding him carefully.

“Sure, but you realise then that’ll be three times, in the three days, we will have watched movies while we hung out?”

Wash blushed slightly at that. “What can I say, I’m a creature of habit. We could play a game instead?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

*.Wash leaned over to the console sat beneath the TV on his desk, flicked it on and picked up two controllers.

“Anything in particular you wanna play?” He asked, throwing the second controller over to Tucker on the bed.

“I don’t mind,” Tucker responded, leaning to pick it up.

“We’ll see what’s in it. I kinda don’t want to look around for anything else.”

Tucker snorted. “Alright.”

They waited in a silence that wasn’t totally comfortable while the screen loaded. When it did, Tucker seemed shocked.

“I did not picture you as a Call of Duty fan!” he exclaimed.

Wash shrugged. “Not the biggest fan but it’s pretty easy to play when people are over… like now,” he turned to give Tucker a joking but pointed look. Tucker pulled a face back.

“Zombies okay?”

“Hells yeah!”

Wash started the game.

They played for a few rounds, saying nothing more than teasing insults and brags, shouting at the game and celebrating headshots.

As they waited for the next wave to begin, Wash asked.

“Hey, so what time are you leaving at?”

There was a pause as Tucker waited to shoot before replying. “I dunno, just before 10. Why?”

“My parents will be back just after 8, and I figured we may as well make a big thing of it, while we can. You up for that?”

“Not a problem.” Tucker responded. “Though, you might want to get over here for when they do get back. Won’t look real if we’re on opposite sides of the room!”

“What, and get your loser all over me?” Wash joked. “No thank you.”

“Excuse you!” Tucker yelled. “If any of us is the loser, it’s you Mr. How-Do-I-Reload?”

“That’s because I don’t play this all that often! And I’m still beating you, he who says he plays this every night!”

“It’s beginners luck, it’s bound to run out!”

“So you admit it, I am better than you.” Wash poked.

“Whatever,” Tucker pouted. “I’ll get you eventually!”

Wash shook his head. “Keep dreaming, Tucker.”

They continued to play for over an hour before Wash gave up.

“My thumbs are killing me!” he said. “How about we call it quits for tonight, and next time you can try to reclaim your dignity?” Wash briefly looked around the room, at the plates on the desk next to him and the cans of soda and the empty candy bar wrappers. Wow, they’d made a mess of the room.

Tucker sniggered. “Not exactly something you wanna hear from a date…”

Wash threw his controller at him, Tucker yelped and jumped away.

Washington never got a chance to mock him for it though, because at that exact moment, he got a text.

“Okay, so it looks like my parents got roped into drinks or something, so they’ll be late. Won’t be home until around 10. Is that alright?”

“Yeah, no problem!” Tucker replied easily. “If anything, I think this is better! I can ‘sneak out’ as your parents get home and it’ll look like we wanted some cheeky alone time. This is great!”

Wash sighed. “If you say so…”

Tucker gave him a quizzical look. “What’s up? How is that a problem?”

“It’s not,” Wash replied. “It doesn’t matter.”

Wash could see Tucker didn’t believe him. Wash didn’t blame him, he wasn’t exactly the most convincing liar. But, he didn’t want to deal with that right now.

“Seriously though, my hands are sore from that controller. Do you mind if we watch something until you have to leave? I still haven’t finished Breaking Bad and I’m sure you’d love to spoil it for me!” Wash tried to inject as much energy and enthusiasm into his voice as he could but he’d suddenly realised how long Tucker had been over and how little time he’d had to himself. It was like he lost all his energy for social interaction once he’d realised that and now he was exhausted.  
Tucker was still watching him with an almost concerned look on his face.

“Are you sure you’re alright, man?”

Wash sighed once more. “Just tired. Feel like I haven’t had much time to just… relax.... all day.”

The concern lifted off Tucker’s face into something lighter.

“Well, what would you be doing if I wasn’t here right now?” he asked.

“Uh.. I dunno.” Wash suddenly felt self conscious of how few hobbies he actually had. “Probably listening to music and reading. I got the newest volume of this comic I love but haven’t read it yet.”

“What’s it about?” Tucker asked.

“That’s actually a really complicated question and I don’t think I’d be able to answer it without spoiling all of it.”

Tucker perked. “Now I’m intrigued.” 

“You can read it if you want,” Wash said. “I have, like, all the issues. You can see if you like it or not?”

“That’d be cool!”

“Awesome, hang on!”

Wash jumped up, played his favourite reading playlist over his speakers before rushing to the shelves hidden on the inside of his closet to grab copies of the comic. When he came back he noticed how messed up the room had become in the short time they’d been there. His bed wa snow messed up from Tucker sitting on it, jumping in place during their gaming and when he’d thrown himself back in defeat. Wash saw Tucker’s jacket and shoes on the floor by the bed, as well as the plates from their snack earlier on the desk, as well as candy wrappers on the nightstand.

Tucker was now, laying on the bed, hands stretched above his head, absently playing with the pattern on Wash’s headboard.

If anyone were to walk in right now,and saw what was there, they’d probably assume the worst. Which, in this case, was the best thing.

Wash must’ve made a noise because Tucker looked over at him. “Of course the music you listen to is fucking classical.”

Wash flushed. “It’s not classical. That’s like Mozart and Bach and stuff. This is movie scores! Totally different!”

Tucker snorted. “Oh I’m sure. Doesn’t make it any less pretentious though.”

“Whatever,” Wash sulked. “Do you wanna read this comic or not?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tucker conceded. Tucker cocked his head to the side, attempting to read the title of the comic “Morning Glories. Huh, I’ve never heard of this either. How much of a hipster are you?” he said, with a teasing note to his voice.

Wash threw the comic at this head. “I could still kick you out, you know.”

Tucker caught the flying volume and laughed. “If you did, you’d be right back where you started now wouldn’t you?” he was still teasing.

“Oh my god, just shut up, will you?” Wash wailed, exasperated. Wash then plopped down on the bed next to Tucker, piles of comics flapping in his arms as he did so. Tucker had the gall to laugh at him again.

“If you make so much as a single comment,” Wash threatened, “I will punch you in the face and make you vacuum up the teeth that I knock out.”

“You’re so good at threats.” Tucker said, and it was clear from his voice he was trying to hold back a laugh.

Wash turned to glare at him then snapped open his comic. “I’m going to read now.” he said.

“I’ll do the same,” Tucker said, still trying to fight a smile.

Wash harrumphed and turned to read.

Thankfully, after that, the only sound in the room was the soft music playing from the speakers and the turning of pages. Wash lost himself in the world of his favourite comic for a blissful thirty minutes. It took him longer than usual to read because he was revelling in the silence and the comfort of the quiet company. It was nice. Before long, however, it was broken.

“What,” Tucker said, closing the volume. “The fuck did I just read?” He looked dumbfounded. His jaw was slack and his eyes were wide. “What the fuck just happened?”

“It’s great, right?” Wash said, grinning. He loved sharing this comic with people purely for that reaction.

“There was explosions, and ghosts,boarding school, forced memory loss and murder?”

“That was even pretty tame for them! Wait until they get to time travel and… all the other murder.”

Tucker just gaped at Wash, who continued to grin.

“Can I read the next one?” Tucker asked. Wash smirked at how lost Tucker seemed. He tossed the second issue over to him.

“Just you wait, shit will only get more intense from here on out.”

 

Wash was so grateful for the hours they spent in relative silence, Tucker rushing his way through Wash’s comic collection. They spoke little, only when Tucker was confused or shocked by something in the comic did he ask Wash for clarification or just to voice his surprise. Eventually, he got bored though and would flip through Wash’s other comics and point at any ugly characters or panels saying “Oh look, it’s you!”

Tucker did find a character he related to though.

“Did this Ike kid seriously greet a teacher who hated him with naked ladies walking out of his dorm room early in the morning? On a school night? This guy is my idol. I need to learn his tricks, use them in the club tonight! Woo all the ladies!”

“You are aware he killed his own father, right?”

“Yeah and he gatecrashed the funeral with a party bus filled with strippers! He’s my hero!”

“Why am I not surprised.”

 

They spent some time taking stupid selfies and posting them on a few social media sites, to add to their charade of course, and did eventually watch an episode of Breaking Bad. But, soon enough, it was time to “sneak” Tucker out of the house so Wash’s parents would notice. When Wash got the “be home in ten minutes!” text, he and Tucker made their way out to Tucker’s jeep (Tucker armed with multiple volumes of Morning Glories), which was parked on the street at the end of Wash’s driveway.

Tucker threw the comics into the passenger seat and turned to face Wash.

“I guess we should wait for them to pull up or something before you go, huh.” Wash said. He wrapped his arms around himself, suddenly feeling cold in the night air.

Tucker gave him a look Wash didn’t understand, again. “Yeah, but you should come over here. Seriously, no one will believe that we’re together if you’re five feet away from me at all times. Get a little closer!”

Apprehensive, Wash took a step closer to Tucker. His arms were crossed over his middle and his shoulders were tight.

Tucker raised an eyebrow at him. “Cloooseerrr” He said, jokingly dragging the word out. Wash took another tentative step towards him.

He was close enough to feel Tucker’s breath against his face.  
“One more,” Tucker said. Wash scoffed at him

Tucker rolled his eyes and placed his hands on Wash’s hips to pull him closer, so they were touching.

“Oh no,” Wash groaned. “This again.”

“I’m not going to do anything” Tucker reassured. “But if you want your parents to think you’re not obsessing over whats-her-face, you gotta look like you’re into me. And you can’t do that from the sidewalk, alright? We gotta look like we’re into one another.”

Wash sighed, and placed his hands on Tucker’s shoulders, pushing himself in to Tucker a little as he did so. “I know that, but… it feels weird being so close to someone I’m not actually with, y’know?”

Tucker made a face. “Not really. I’m kinda like this all the time with people.”

Wash shrugged. “Different stroke for different folks, I guess. I’ve just never done this with anyone other than the person I’m dating…”

“Well it’s a good thing we’re dating then huh,” Tucker winked.

Wash rolled his eyes. Before he could reply, he saw headlights pulling heading down the street, towards them.

“Think that’s my parents.” he said, uneasily. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Tucker said easily. “I’m going to pretend to kiss you now though okay?” Tucker moved his hand as he spoke from Wash’s hip to cup his cheek. Wash gulped and nodded, hyper aware of the fact that his parents car pulled up into the driveway.

Tucker gently pulled Wash’s face closer to his. Wash could feel Tucker’s long eyelashes ghosting over his cheekbones. Wash shifted on his feet, hoping it would appear that he was moving in with the kiss. They stayed like that for a few seconds, standing too close for comfort, Wash overly aware of his own heartbeat and breathing, he could feel Tucker’s everything touching him and it made it hard for him to breathe, he felt anxious and warm. God, why was he so nervous? It wasn’t like he’d never kissed someone before, this definitely wasn’t his first time doing this! But why did being so close to Tucker make him so uncomfortable? Like what he was doing was wrong? Wash struggled to control his breathing. He would not appear weak or overwhelmed. He would be strong and not let Tucker know he had any effect on Wash. Distantly, Wash heard the sound of a car door closing, and knew his parents would see him now, if they hadn’t already.

“Shit,” Tucker whispered. “Your mom is watching. I don’t think we’re good enough at pretending.”

“Well what would you suggest we do?” Wash demanded in a harsh whisper.

There was a pause before Tucker said “Would you mind if I kissed you for real?”

Wash gulped audibly.

“Not like, really really.” Tucker amended, still whispering. “Just a few pecks. Would that be okay?”

 _Don’t let him see he has an affect on you_ , Wash thought.

“Uh.. y-yeah sure. Okay.” Wash stammered.

As soon as the words left his lips he felt Tucker’s press ever so lightly against him. First just below his eye, then down to his cheekbone, then to the corner of his mouth. Then Tucker moved over to the other corner and mirrored the pattern back up.

“Think that’s enough for tonight.” Wash whispered, struggling to keep his voice even. “Pretty sure that convinced them.”

Tucker pulled back and Wash saw that he was grinning. “Yeah,” he said easily. “You’re probably right.”

Wash took a step back, hands dropping from Tucker’s shoulders and Tucker’s dropping from his hips. “Plus you’ve got to keep something for the, what was it you said? For all the ‘babes at the club’, right?”

Tucker laughed. “Oh trust me, I’ve got plenty left in me. Don’t you worry.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” 

They smiled at each other for a moment.

“I guess I better head on,” Tucker said.

“Okay.” Wash replied. “Have fun and be safe! See you Monday.”

Tucker snorted softly. “I’m always safe,” he said before climbing into his jeep and driving away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long. School has been kicking me in the butt and I don't have time to scratch my nose these days. Hopefully I'll be able to knock a few out before and over Christmas.  
> I hope you guys can bear with me until then!  
> thank you all so much for all the kudos and lovely comments, please keep 'em coming!  
> x

**Author's Note:**

> So that's the first chapter! Please let me know what you guys think!
> 
> I have about 15~ chapters planned but we'll see how things go.
> 
> Please let me know if you're interested in reading more, I'd love to hear your thoughts!


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